By Any Means Necessary

[CHIMO]

After a meeting in Moscow last week with NATO's supreme commander in Europe, General James Jones, chief of the General Staff General Yury Baluyevsky said that Russia was ready to carry out preemptive strikes against terrorist bases "anywhere in the world."
Baluyevsky, second in the military hierarchy, said that he knew where the enemy was hiding: "But let's not say beforehand, so they don't flee." Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov supported Baluyevsky's statement, saying that preemptive strikes could involve the use of everything short of nuclear weapons.
In Qatar, two Defense Ministry intelligence agents were convicted of the murder in February of former separatist Chechen president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev. They are now serving life sentences there. But this mishap may not stop further such attacks. The United States has given refuge to Ilyas Akhmadov, the former Chechen foreign minister, while Britain has granted asylum to Akhmed Zakayev.

Moscow has angrily demanded their extradition -- and if this is refused, may resort to murder. As Ivanov has said, "A preemptive strike may involve any action," implying that the Kremlin now views assassination as a legitimate tactic anywhere in the world.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/09/14/008.html