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Letter: Putin’s bombing proof missing

Tuesday, April 16, 2002 | 8:48 a.m.

During an April 2000 visit to England, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin issued a warning: "The West must wake up -- war with Islam is coming."

In light of current U.S.-Russian collaboration in a global "war on terrorism," Putin's words seem nearly prophetic.

At a summit meeting with European Union leaders following the Black Tuesday attack, Putin reiterated the theme that Russia and the West share a common enemy. He drew a specific parallel between that atrocity and the September 1999 bombings in Russia, insisting that Moscow possesses "objective proof" that bin Laden-connected Chechen radicals were responsible for the terrorist assaults.

But even though Moscow has charged six Chechens -- five of them in absentia -- with the bombings, the proof referred to by Putin has yet to materialize.

In fact, there is far better evidence linking Russia's Federal Security Service, the former KGB, to the bombings, which occurred shortly after former FSB chief Putin was appointed Russian prime minister.

Inside job? You be the judge.

KEN HOVEY

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