Russia wants to "wipe out" ousted Chechen President Mr Aslan Maskhadov, whom it has accused of complicity in the Moscow theatre hostage crisis, the Kremlin's top spokesman on Chechnya said.
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Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky saidRussia wants to "wipe out" ousted Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov
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There have been calls for the Kremlin to negotiate with Chechen representatives following last week's siege, in which 119 hostages and around 50 Chechen rebels died when Russian troops stormed the building.
Mr Maskhadov has condemned terrorism and distanced himself from the siege in which 800 people were taken hostage.
But Mr Sergei Yastrzhembsky told a news conference on Thursday there could be no question of holding any talks with Mr Maskhadov, who was elected president of Chechnya in 1997 when the separatist region briefly shrugged off Russian rule.
He was ousted in 1999 when Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin sent troops in for the second time in a decade to bring the territory to heel.
"Maskhadov can no longer be considered a legitimate representative of this resistance," Mr Yastrzhembsky told reporters. "We have to wipe out the commanders of the movement," Yastrzhembsky said.
"From the Chechen underground there is no one we are ready to talk to," he said.
One senior Maskhadov aide spent two hours in talks with Russian officials at a Moscow airport last year, but he was arrested in Copenhagen on Wednesday at Russia's behest and Moscow is now seeking his extradition.