Berezovsky restores relations with Chechen militants

Famous Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, who is abroad now, reported that he had restored relations with Chechen separatists leaders in order to become a potential mediator in the settlement of Chechen conflict, Berezovsky said in his interview to influential London newspaper “Financial Times”. According to the businessman, he got into these contacts in November, but interrupted them at the instance of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Berezovsky expressed an opinion that Russia should have to stop war operations in Chechnya at the end of 1999, when federal forces approached Terek. In his opinion that moment the Russians were psychologically sure that they had won and the Chechens were sure that they had lost, “Interfax” reports. Continuation of the operations in the South of Chechnya only incited a lot of Chechens against Russia. The businessman has said that Aslan Maskhadov is the best interlocutor for Russia. But, in Berezovsky’s point of view it is necessary to talk to other militants, including notorious terrorist Shamil Basayev. Berezovsky thinks that there is no use to speak to those Chechens who are not against Russian regime.