Web posted at: 7/5/2006 9:42:40
Source ::: REUTERS
MOSCOW • Russia’s President Vladimir Putin asked parliament yesterday for the right to send soldiers and special forces anywhere in the world to fight terrorists.

His request to the Federation Council (upper house of parliament) came nine days after militants killed four Russian hostages they had taken in Iraq.

Russian security services last week offered a $10m reward for the capture of the Islamist insurgents after Putin ordered that they be hunted down and “eliminated”.

According to a Kremlin statement, Putin requested the right to defend “the human rights and freedoms of citizens, the sovereignty of the Russian Federation, its independence and state integrity,” by using security forces outside Russia.

Under the constitution, he is duty-bound to ask the Federation Council, which usually does his bidding, for permission before sending troops abroad.

Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov said two days ago the chamber was ready to permit Putin to use special forces and the agents of the GRU army intelligence service outside Russia.

Moscow threatened to send war planes to bomb terrorist bases worldwide after Chechen rebels took 1,300 hostages in a school in the town of Beslan in 2004. 330 people – half of them children – died after a three-day siege.

At the time, it did not specify what countries it accused of harbouring militants – and no air strikes were forthcoming – although it has previously accused Georgia of doing too little to stop Chechen guerrillas from crossing its territory.

In 2004, two Russian agents were jailed in Qatar for killing Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev with a car bomb on Kremlin orders. After conviction, Qatar sent the two agents back to Russia.

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