Putin Reaffirms Determination to Combat Chechen Terrorists

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 16, 2002

Putin Reaffirms Determination to Combat Chechen Terrorists

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Visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday in Paris that all means could be used against the "criminal regime" established in Chechenya, which he described as the same of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

"On what does the criminal regime (in Chechenya) distinguish itself from the Taliban? On nothing, if not that it is probably more bloodthirsty," said Putin at a press conference following his two-hour meeting with his French counterpart Jacques Chirac.

"We certainly have the right to utilize all means against it if juridical means are insufficient," he said. Chirac reaffirmed that France condemns the attacks launched by Chechen terrorists in Russian cities and denounces that certain links exist between Chechen terrorist individuals and the Al-Qaeda network of Ossama ben Laden.

"I have repeated to President Putin that there is no double standards (towards terrorism) and France condemns all terrorist act, wherever it takes place, wherever it comes from," said Chirac. Putin said the number of victims of a series of attacks in Moscow in 1999, which were blamed on Chechen separatists, was equivalent to that of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The problem of separatism concerns not only Russia but also many countries in Europe, he said. "We do not support separatism for we would risk to drag Europe into chaos," said the Russian president.

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