[ RadSafe ] Exiled Russian tycoon says Chechens may have nuclear weapon

[Gerry Blackwood]

Exiled Russian tycoon says Chechens may have nuclear weapon 
The Associated Press, Feb. 8, 2005 
MOSCOW 

Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky said Tuesday that Chechen militants may possess a nuclear weapon, pointing to their alleged offer several years ago to sell it to him, but the Foreign Ministry dismissed the claim as an attempt to scare Russians.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Berezovsky said that a Chechen representative identified as Zakhar had offered to sell him a portable nuclear device and deliver it to any part of Russia or Europe about three years ago. Berezovsky didn't specify the nature of the device, saying he was no expert in nuclear weapons.

"Apparently they were talking to me about it, believing that I was an opponent or an adversary of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's regime, and it may be of some interest to me," Berezovsky said.

Berezovsky, an outspoken critic of Putin, lives in self-imposed exile in Britain, where he has been granted political asylum. Moscow is seeking his extradition on charges including fraud and tax evasion.

Having fled Russia and terminated contacts with Russian authorities, Berezovsky said he had initially turned to U.S. officials with information on the offer, and later contacted Nikolai Patrushev, the chief of Russia's Federal Security Service or FSB, the main KGB successor agency.

"As far as I know, the FSB got interested in this information, and as far as I know that information was confirmed _ that Chechens did in fact possess such a nuclear device that wasn't fully equipped, but nevertheless the nuclear charge was in the hands of Chechens," Berezovsky said.

The security service declined immediate comment.

Berezovsky said he didn't know whom Zakhar represented, but that he wasn't linked to rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov. He also said the device may already be "in the hands of different people."

Russia's Foreign Ministry reacted angrily to Berezovsky's claim, which also appeared in his interview with the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda on Tuesday, saying that the tycoon was trying to make Russians feel "vulnerable and nervous."

"Moscow doesn't believe that Chechen rebels possess this kind of nuclear device, and therefore, doesn't believe in the possibility of carrying out a terrorist attack using it," the ministry said in a statement.

Chechen rebels have used radioactive threats in the past to sow fear. In 1995, a container with cesium 137 was found buried in a Moscow park, and Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed that his agents had planted it as a warning to Russia that such containers could be blown up to contaminate a large territory.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, concerns have grown that terrorists might try to acquire material for such a dirty bomb _ a device that uses conventional explosives to scatter low-level radioactive material over city blocks.

Russia's late Security Council secretary, Gen. Alexander Lebed, added to fears about nuclear terrorism by saying in 1997 that some portable Soviet nuclear weapons were unaccounted for. Other officials, however, have denied Lebed's claim, saying that all the nation's nuclear weapons were properly secured.

Military analysts were skeptical about Berezovsky's claim. Retired Gen. Vladimir Dvorkin, formerly a top arms control expert with the Russian Defense Ministry, told Ekho Moskvy radio that it was highly unlikely the Chechens could obtain nuclear weapons and even if they did, they would be unable to detonate them without special access codes.