Chechen commander says President Yeltsin "sentenced to death"

Chechen field commander Salman Raduyev announced on Saturday that Russian President Boris Yeltsin has been "sentenced to death", Interfax news agency reported.

Moscow swiftly condemned the move.

Raduyev told a rally in the Chechen capital Groznyy that the Supreme Shariah Court of the Caucusus had handed down the verdict to prevent "further evil on the part of the Russian Empire." The sentence is not subject to the statute of limitations and can be implemented "at any time", he said.

"The court sentenced Yeltsin to death following the laws of Allah, the will and demands of numerous Modzhakhets and using the exclusive right for vengeance for the massacres against Muslims and civilians in the Caucasus," the agency said.

Asked by Interfax about the authority which established the court, Raduyev said it had been founded "by all the public and political parties in the Caucasus." President Yeltsin's press service described Raduyev's announcement as "yet another disgraceful outburst", the agency reported.

"Such an insolent statement by the notorious terrorist is aimed primarily at disrupting the dialogue between Moscow and Groznyy and at aggravating the situation in the northern Caucasus as a whole," the presidential press service said.

"This is yet another confirmation that forces preaching ideas of terror are operating with impunity in Chechnya." "In this situation Moscow has the right to expect a commensurate response from the leadership of Chechnya," it added.

Meanwhile, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov told a press conference in the Ingush capital Nazran on Saturday that he hoped Chechnya and Russia would sign a treaty establishing diplomatic relations during Yeltsin's visit to Groznyy, Interfax said.

"Chechnya's sovereignty and security guarantees to its citizens is not an issue for bargaining, discussions are ruled out here," Maskhadov said.

"If Yeltsin comes and makes this step forward, it will be a tangible result.

It will be no use to come and simply talk," he said, adding that Chechnya wants to make the maximum use of Yeltsin's planned visit.

The main problem in bilateral ties at the moment was that "unfortunately, not a single signed agreement has been implemented," he said, according to Interfax.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.