A Web site used by a Chechen warlord to claim responsibility for last month's school siege in Russia has come back online based out of Finland

A Web site used by a Chechen warlord to claim responsibility for last month's school siege in Russia has come back online based out of Finland, three weeks after Lithuania shut it down following pressure from Moscow. Nordic telecom operator TeliaSonera said on Saturday it was hosting the site, www.kavkazcenter.net, and that there were no grounds on which it could be closed down. The Kavkaz Center site was used by Shamil Basayev to claim responsibility for the Beslan siege in southern Russia, where more than 320 people, half of them children, were killed. "Our lawyers and police have checked this during the last 24 hours, and there is no content that would allow us to close the (site)," TeliaSonera spokesman Jyrki Karasvirta said. He said according to Finnish law the site could only be shut if it posted child pornography or racist or bigoted content. "We have an agreement with the client, and we have no legal right to close it," he added. Karasvirta said a company owned the site, but gave no further details. A note posted on the site said it was experiencing serious funding problems and asked readers for financial help or sponsorship. The Lithuanian state security department blocked Kavkaz Center's site on Sept. 18, under pressure from Moscow, shortly after Basayev posted a statement saying he was behind a wave of attacks in Russia. Among those were the school siege, the near-simultaneous downing of two passenger planes and a bomb attack in Moscow. In his statement posted on the site, Basayev also said his violent campaign for an independent Chechnya would continue. Chechen separatists have fought Russian rule for a decade and the region has long been a problem in cooperation between Russia and Western countries, many of which question Moscow's rights record as it fights separatism.