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Chechens execute

nine Russian soldiers

MOSCOW: Chechen militants have executed nine Russian soldiers they were holding prisoner with plans to trade them for a Russian colonel, the Interfax news agency said on Monday, quoting the federal security service FSB.

The soldiers, said by the Chechens to have been captured on Wednesday last week during a deadly ambush on a troop convoy which killed 43 of other soldiers, appeared to have been killed on Sunday, the FSB said.

The group was executed on the orders of a Chechen commander named Khattab, the FSB said, adding that it had gleaned the information in an intercepted telephone conversation between Khattab and another militant chief.

Russian officials had earlier on Monday ruled out handing over the colonel, Yury Budanov, in exchange for the soldiers, according to the Moscow Echo radio station.

Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev on Saturday threatened to kill the nine prisoners of war if Moscow did not to hand over Budanov, who has been charged by Russian prosecutors for the rape and murder of an 18-year-old Chechen woman.

Basayev's spokesman Movladi Udugov told AFP that Moscow had a deadline of 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday to exchange Budanov, a tank commander, for the soldiers.

Alexander Veklich, press officer for Russia's North Caucasus military division, told Moscow Echo on Monday that Budanov would not be swapped.

"His punishment will be imposed according to Russian legislation, not mob rule," he added.

The FSB said that despite its information, it would continue to search for the missing soldiers.ÑAFP