World News 29-10-2002 Putin Gets Tough On Chechens who: President Vladimir Putin what: Introduces tougher measures in Chechnya after theatre siege where: MOSCOW when: Yesterday snippet: "Russia submitted to a day of mourning yesterday as Muscovites seemed to accept the loss of more than 120 people from the gas deployed during the theatre siege as a `necessary evil`,` observes today`s Guardian. But while many Russians continued their complaints that the army should have informed emergency services of the type of gas used to flush out the terrorists, President Vladimir Putin looked to boost national morale by "announcing that he would give his military forces extra powers to deal with terrorism and vowing that Russia would never give in to blackmail." Despite the deaths of the hostages Mr Putin has come out of the crisis more popular than ever, reckons The Telegraph. "The attack has handed Mr Putin the high moral ground in a propaganda war against Chechen separatists which he had appeared to be losing. It has also given him carte blanche with the Russian people to initiate a more determined assault in Chechnya to try to wipe out rebel resistance." Meanwhile The Times reports on a general Chechen backlash in Moscow despite Mr Putin`s appeal to Russians not to attack Chechens in retaliation for the hostage-taking. "When Yakha Niserkhoyeva, a 43-year-old Chechen living in Moscow, was freed with the rest of the hostages on Saturday, she was branded a terrorist." On the day that the theatre was stormed, officers from the organised crime squad visited her friend, Anya, saying that a warrant had been issued for Yakha`s arrest on suspicion of terrorism. Vladimir Dolin, a Russian journalist, commented on Radio Liberty`s Russian service: "The search for participants in the terrorist act is turning into a cleansing operation to rid Moscow of all Chechens." In a late development, BBC News reports that Moscow`s chief prosecutor has said that 45 of those killed during the Moscow siege "died of gunshot wounds and not of an overdose of gas", as was previously believed. [... more]

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