Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev has pinned the blame of the Beslan School Massacre on Russian special forces who allowed terrorists into the school. Not only is this a deflect of blame, it is a lie said to try to damage Russia’s influence over this region.

In an announcement on a Web site that frequently posts his statements and videos, Mr. Basayev said he had deceived Russian intelligence services, who believed his terrorists would attack a government center in the regional capital and thus cleared a route at the border in hopes of ambushing them along the way.

The statement was immediately denounced by the Russian authorities, who dismissed it as “total nonsense” and the assertions of a “child murderer.”

“Investigators have no evidence suggesting that special services were in any way involved in the seizure,” Russia’s deputy prosecutor general, Nikolai Shepel, told the Interfax news agency.

But the statement, timed to appear in the news as residents of Beslan prepare for the one-year anniversary of the school seizure exploited the uncertainties and lingering questions surrounding the terrorist act.

This is just radical Islamic propoganda that we see daily by various terrorist groups and nothing more. To try to assert Russian special forces share some of the blame for sending 20 terrorists into a school to hold children hostage is ridiculous. Basayev has the blood of over 300 children on his hands as well as the public sentiment in the region against his group of murderous thugs.