Basayev: Official Reaction

Official Russian government reaction to Basayev's claim, as reported by AP (May 27):

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, declined comment on the claim, and telephone calls to the Industry and Energy Ministry were not answered.

But Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko was quoted earlier in the day as rejecting speculation that a terrorist act was responsible for Wednesday's blackout.

"I think that this is not a terrorist act. We are just using old equipment, from 1958, which needs to be replaced," Khristenko told the RIA-Novosti news agency, the Gazeta.ru news Web site reported.

The conflicting claims recalled the aftermath of the blackout in eight U.S. states and Canada in August 2003. Although a shadowy group calling itself the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades claimed responsibility, investigators quickly ruled out any sabotage.

Basayev is Russia's most wanted man, and is seen as the driving force behind the decade-old insurgency in the breakaway republic of Chechnya since Russian security forces killed guerrilla leader Aslan Maskhadov on March 8.

Basayev has claimed responsibility for many of Russia's most grisly terrorist attacks, including the 2002 Moscow theater hostage-taking and last September's school siege in southern Russia, in which more than 330 people died — half of them children.