MOSCOW. Nov 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Chechen President Alu Alkhanov thinks it would be possible to take relatives of terrorists hostage only if such a measure is legalized.
"I think we should do anything endorsed by the law," Alkhanov said in reply to a question about the initiative Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov announced on Ekho Moskvy Radio on Monday.
Alkhanov said he is a supporter of "legal measures."
"It seems the Prosecutor General had good reasons for this initiative," he said. "If the law is adopted, the government and governmental institutions will abide by it."
"Our people, who voted for the constitution in 2003, determined the status" of Aslan Maskhadov, Akhmed Zakayev and Shamil Basayev, Alkhanov said.
Maskhadov "is an average citizen for the overwhelming majority of Chechens. He is not a president, although he was elected in 1997," he said.
"Basayev has been recognized as an international terrorist, and there must be no negotiations with him. He will not negotiate with me or anyone else," he said.
"The overwhelming majority of Chechen people do not ask Maskhadov and Basayev to commit any actions on their behalf. They are not rebels or people who protect the interests of the Chechen people, and I can say that officially and with full responsibility," Alkhanov said.
At the same time, Yury Sharandin, head of the Constitutional Legislation Committee of the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, dismissed Ustinov's proposal as "not productive either legally or politically" and one that "cannot be seen as serious from the legal point of view."
Russia is a Council of Europe member and a signatory to international conventions on human rights, and the proposal "directly contradicts" Russia's Council of Europe commitments, he told Interfax.
However, another Federation Council member, former first deputy interior minister Valery Fyodorov, expressed support for the proposal. He said many secret services, including those of Turkey and Israel, used such methods in combating terrorists.
"If there's a war going on here, we should use wartime law," he told Interfax.