Russia on Friday placed 15 Muslim groups on a terror
blacklist, including the Al Qaeda network and two radical Chechen
organizations.
The Russian supreme court upheld a request by Prosecutor General Vladimir
Ustinov to blacklist the groups, ordering that their assets be confiscated and
activities halted in Russia.
The banned groups include the Congress of Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan and
the United Force of Caucasian Mujahideen, led by radical Chechen Shamil Basayev
and Movladi Udugov.
Apart from Al Qaeda, the list also figures radical organizations outside
Russia, such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Taliban in Afghanistan,
and Pakistan's Lashkar-i-Taiba.
Russia has been demanding that Washington place Chechen groups on its terror
blacklist, a move that would enable Moscow to present its campaign against the
guerillas as part of the fight against global terrorism.
The insurgency in Chechnya is led by elected president, Aslan Maskhadov, who
says he opposes terrorism, but is supported by a number of radical groups, one
of which staged a dramatic hostage-taking operation at a Moscow theatre last
year in which 129 people died.