CHECHNYA: A massive truck bomb killed at least two people and injured more than 15 others in Chechnya yesterday just hours after the Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, had hailed Kremlin-led efforts to end Moscow's war with the republic's separatist rebels. Daniel McLaughlin in Moscow reports.
During his annual televised Kremlin press conference Mr Putin also said he was convinced that Iran did not want to develop nuclear weapons and that the United States would not attack North Korea over its nuclear arms programme.
The explosion in the Chechen capital, Grozny, was a sharp rebuke to Mr Putin. It came just hours after he had told some 700 journalists that a political solution was in sight for the region, where separatist rebels have intensified their attacks in the aftermath of a controversial March referendum which Moscow claims delivered proof of the Chechens' desire to remain within Russia.
Russian officials said that the two men who were killed were probably suicide-bombers intending to destroy a Chechen government complex. Their truck exploded about 50 metres short of the complex after security guards opened fire on the speeding vehicle.
The explosion came the day before the republic's temporary legislature was to have met for its first session in a building hastily erected to replace a government headquarters destroyed in a December car-bombing which killed 82 people.
Suicide-bombings have killed almost 100 people in the last two months in Chechnya, undermining Kremlin claims that the region is becoming more stable after the March referendum and a recent offer of an amnesty to some rebels.
The guerrillas say that the referendum was a sham, but Mr Putin praised it yesterday during his three-hour Kremlin question-and-answer session, saying that the federal authorities had taken a "great risk" in holding a vote which many said was doomed to failure.
"The results, I believe, exceeded all expectations, even within Chechnya itself. Eighty per cent of people came to the polls, despite intimidation from the guerrillas, from the bandits," he said, adding: "The faster a legitimate government is formed, the better it will ultimately be for the people."
Elections are planned in Chechnya for later this year.
Fielding questions from Russian and foreign journalists, Mr Putin covered matters ranging from the war in Iraq to economic policy, from nuclear crises over Iran and North Korea to where he plans to go on holiday.
Seeking to calm US fears that an $800 million Russian-built nuclear reactor in Iran could lead to the Islamic Republic developing nuclear arms, Mr Putin said that he had received personal assurances on the issue from the leadership in Tehran.
"Two days ago, I spoke by telephone with President Mohammad Khatami, and he once more confirmed that Iran has no plans to create a nuclear weapon," he said, adding that he thought Tehran was ready to submit its nuclear energy project to monitoring by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency.
"According to our information, the Iranian leadership is ready fully to join all protocols and \ with all demands by the IAEA from the point of view of controls on its nuclear programme," he said.
Mr Putin also backed a negotiated settlement to the stalemate over North Korea and urged the US to offer security guarantees to the Stalinist regime in return for an end to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons plans.
"For the peaceful solution of the nuclear issue, North Korea's interests should be considered," he said. "North Korea should not be driven into a corner."
Mr Putin also insisted that his recent meeting with President Bush in St Petersburg had convinced him of Washington's willingness to reach a peaceful resolution.
"After the summit with US President George W. Bush I got the impression that the United States has no intention of using military force," he said.