Lord Judd acknowledging presence of "belligerent Islamic militants" in Chechnya and their involvement in Moscow terrorist act

Co-chairman of the PACE-State Duma working group Lord Judd has acknowledged the presence of "belligerent Islamic militants" in Chechnya and their involvement in the Moscow terrorist attack.

It cannot be denied that there are belligerent Islamic militants in the Chechen Republic who have taken up the course of armed combat and who are not interested in the search of a political settlement in Chechnya, Lord Judd said in an interview with RIA Novosti in London.

"A significant part of the Chechen rebels' activities is cynical, cruel and completely unacceptable," he said.

It is these militants that are the masterminds of the Moscow terrorist attack, Lord Judd believes. By this they wanted to postpone a prospective political settlement of the situation in Chechnya, he said.

The hostage-taking in the Theatre Centre in Dubrovka in Moscow "must be condemned as strongly as possible," he announced.

Earlier Lord Judd, who had visited Chechnya on several occasions, was of a different opinion, and it was after his reports that the PACE adopted resolutions denouncing the Russian authorities' action in Chechnya.