Chechen Rebel Claims Theater Fire

A letter attributed to Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev said late Saturday that militants under his control burned down a Moscow theater last week and that more fighters were preparing similar attacks across Russia.

The Chechen rebel website www.kavkazcenter.com posted the letter claiming responsibility for a fire late Thursday at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko theater in central Moscow, the city’s second most important ballet and opera venue.

“A report was received today from one of our sabotage groups who have been given the task of destroying economic, political, administrative and cultural propagandist centers in Russia, especially in Moscow, or doing maximum damage,” the letter says.

“During the night of May 26-27 the group carried out a successful special operation, burning down the Stanislavsky theater in the center of Moscow.”

Moscow authorities have not said they suspect arson. The theater is across the street from the upper house of parliament.

Basayev has also claimed responsibility for causing a power outage Wednesday that crippled Moscow, bringing transport and financial markets to a halt and leaving about 2 million people without electricity. But President Vladimir V. Putin blamed on the management of a power company run by one of his political rivals.

Basayev is the most-wanted man in Russia and has a $10-million bounty on his head after claiming responsibility for the school hostage-taking in Beslan in September, in which at least 330 hostages died.

Gennady Gudkov, a member of parliament’s security committee, told Echo of Moscow radio that he hoped Basayev was making false claims because he was too sick to carry out real attacks.