Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Western countries of exercising double standard by granting asylum to Chechen separatists, saying the moves weaken global anti-terror efforts, according to a newspaper interview published Thursday. 

Sergey Lavrov's comments in the Vremya Novostei newspaper reflected longtime Russian anger over what Moscow sees as the West's receptiveness to Chechen militants accused of a string of recent terrorist attacks.

The attacks the downing of two airliners apparently by explosions, a suicide bombing outside a Moscow subway station and last week's school hostage-taking in the town of Beslan ending in a bloody frenzy and more than 300 deaths prompted officials to offer a huge cash reward for information leading to the killing or capture of top Chechen rebel leaders and a pledge to go after terrorists all over the world.

The Kremlin contends the Chechen militants are trained and supported by international terrorist groups, like al-Qaeda.

"Granting asylum to people involved in terrorism and Russia has documented evidence of this not only causes us regret but also effectively undermines the unity of the anti-terrorist coalition," Lavrov was quoted as saying.

Russian officials have been particularly angered by Britain's granting of asylum to Akhmed Zakayev, an envoy for Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, and the United States' granting of asylum to Ilyas Akhmadov, who was foreign minister under Maskhadov during Chechnya's de facto independence in the late 1990s.

"It is enough to recall Akhmed Zakayev's statement made from London, in which he plainly and bluntly and without any intricacies blamed what happened in Beslan on the Russian leadership. I believe the cynicism of this statement is clear to everybody," Lavrov said.

"We are far from accusing the leaders of major countries ... of deliberately preserving this double standard," he said.

"But the inertia is still very strong."

On Wednesday, the Federal Security Service offered a reward of 300 million rubles (US$10.3 million) for information that could help "neutralize" Maskhadov and another Chechen separatist leader.

News of the award offer came as Russia's top military commander, Colonel-General Yuri Baluyevsky, said: "We will take all measures to liquidate terrorist bases in any region of the world," including launching preemptive strikes.

Russian leaders have asserted the right to act preemptively before.

(China Daily September 10, 2004)