Russia foils Chechen poison plot

MOSCOW - Russia claims to have broken up Chechen rebel plans to attack towns in its turbulent north Caucasus region with poison and explosives, four days before world leaders hold wartime victory celebrations in Moscow.

A statement by the FSB state security services highlighted Russia's anxiety that high-profile celebrations marking the Soviet World War Two victory over Nazi Germany could be disrupted by Chechen attacks.

Russian security forces have flooded Moscow with thousands of crack police units to deter possible attacks by Chechen fighters during a May 9 Red Square parade which will be attended by US President George W Bush and other world leaders.

Media reported a string of bomb scares across Russia on Thursday, but all so far have proved false alerts.

President Vladimir Putin, elected in 2000 vowing to wipe out Chechen resistance, has said he will never bow to rebel attacks.

"The FSB received information about the preparation of terrorist attacks during operations carried out to head off terrorist activity by Chechen bandit groups," a spokesman said.

The groups, based in Ingushetia which borders rebel Chechnya, had planned to use powerful cyanide-based substances in their attacks on towns in the seething north Caucasus and elsewhere, a statement said.

"The use of these strong-acting poisons in small doses in highly populated areas, key installations and in reservoirs could have caused a large number of victims," a statement said.

Separately, Interfax news agency quoted Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov as saying security forces had foiled a bomb attack in the Chechen capital Grozny planned for May 9 and involving at least two female suicide bombers.

He said the women blew themselves up during a security raid.

The army said separate operations to head off rebel plans to sabotage the holiday stopped a truck carrying more than a tonne of explosives near Grozny.

No independent confirmation of the raids, or the details given, was available.

The FSB supplied photographs showing a small amount of explosives beside a truck. Separate pictures of the seized poison showed a man in a white coat holding a phial of clear liquid.

Chechen rebel websites did not mention the raids.

Russian Victory Day, a solemn milestone in Russia's calendar, has been targeted in past years by Chechen rebels whose million-strong Muslim nation was exiled to remote parts of the Soviet Union in World War Two after dictator Josef Stalin accused them of siding with the German invaders.

The Russian army said the poison belonged to an emissary of the international militant group al Qaeda, and a little-known Chechen rebel called Alash Daudov.

It said he had helped organise some of the rebels' bloodiest raids including the hostage-taking attack on a school in Beslan which left 330 adults and children dead.

A bombing in a Grozny stadium on May 9 last year killed the Moscow-backed leader of Chechnya and six others, while a bombing on the same day two years before in the neighbouring region of Dagestan killed 45 people.

The Moscow parade celebrates 60 years since victory in World War Two and will feature more than 50 leaders, including those of China, France and Germany.

The Chechens voiced their feelings in a pre-Victory Day comment published on the rebel website www.chechenpress.com.

"Our holiday to mark victory over fascism has not come yet. But it definitely will, despite the support for the criminal Russian regime from 'forgetful' Europe and America," it said.

- REUTERS