Chechen fighter promises to fight on

A Chechen separatist leader, Shamil Basayev, has appeared on British television to threaten more operations similar to last year's school-siege in Beslan. Sitting calmly behind a laptop computer and clutching a grenade launcher, Basayev claimed responsibility for the Beslan-siege and said he would fight on because of Moscow's refusal to leave Chechnya. The UK's Channel 4 aired the exclusive interview on Thursday over protests by the Russian government that the broadcast amounted to dangerous terrorist propaganda. "We are planning more Beslan-type operations in the future because we are forced to do so," Basayev - Russia's public enemy number one - said. Wearing a black T-shirt with Anti-Terror written in white Cyrillic letters, Basayev said he believed the Kremlin, not himself, was the terrorist. Referring to the Beslan primary school siege last September, Basayev blamed the Russian authorities for its bloody ending.