U.S. names Chechen leader a security threat
Basayev thought to have planned Moscow theater takeover
From Elise Labott
CNN Washington Bureau
 |  Shamil Basayev received money for weapons and training from Osama bin Laden, the U.S. State Department alleges.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) --Secretary of State Colin Powell designated the Chechen leader believed responsible for last year's hostage standoff in a Moscow theater as a threat to U.S. security Friday.
In a notice posted in Friday's Federal Register, Powell said Shamil Basayev "has committed or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States."
Basayev is believed to have been behind the seizing of the theater in October -- during which 129 hostages died, most from a narcotic gas Russian troops pumped in before storming the structure -- as well as several suicide attacks in May. U.S. officials have said his group has links to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. The Russian government has been pressing the State Department to designate Basayev as a terrorist.
Friday's designation was made under several executive orders enacted after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and paved the way for the Treasury Department's Office of Asset Control to freeze Basayev's assets in the United States and block any transfer of funds.
A Treasury official said the United States will soon forward Basayev's name to the U.N. terrorism committee, and expects his name to be added to a list of people believed to have links to al Qaeda.
The Treasury Department also moved to freeze the U.S. assets of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, the former Chechen president. Yandarbiyev's name has been added to the U.N. terrorist list.
In February, the State Department designated three Chechen groups with links to al Qaeda as terrorist organizations.
The U.S. State Department said members of the Islamic International Brigade, the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment and the Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs were believed to have carried out the theater attack.
U.S. officials laid out what they called "significant" ties to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, including a 1999 trip by group members to bin Laden's home base in Kandahar, Afghanistan. At that meeting, officials believe, bin Laden agreed to send military and financial assistance to Chechen fighters battling Russian forces.
The State Department believes bin Laden sent "substantial" amounts of money to Basayev and Ibn al-Kattab, leaders of the Islamic International Brigade, to train gunmen, recruit mercenaries and buy ammunition.
Chechen fighters known to be associated with Basayev and al-Kattab are also believed to have fought in al Qaeda's elite "055 Brigade," which battled the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan throughout 2001. (Full story)
