Putin to West: Invite Osama to White House

[Guest guest]

In an interview Monday with a group of foreign journalists and

academics, Putin rejected Western calls for negotiations with Chechen

rebel representatives, Britain's Guardian and Independent newspapers

reported.

 

"Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the

White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to

him so he leaves you in peace?" the Guardian quoted Putin as saying

sarcastically.

 

"You find it possible to set some limitations in your dealings with

these bastards, so why should we talk to people who are child-killers?"

 

Putin said foreigners should have "no more questions about our policy

in Chechnya" after the attackers shot children in the back, and said

the Chechen cause was aimed at undermining all of southern Russia and

majority-Muslim regions of the country.

 

Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said Tuesday that "our view

on the overall situation has not changed." That is, he said,

ultimately "there must be a political settlement" over Chechnya.

 

He said U.S. officials had met with Chechens with a variety of views

in the past, although "we do not meet with terrorists." There may be

additional meetings in the future, though none are planned, he said.

 

Responding to Russian suspicions that the terrorist group that seized

the school in Beslan included Arabs with ties to the al-Qaeda terror

network, Boucher said the Bush administration did not have any

definitive information.