RUSSIA’S security service claimed yesterday to have paid more than £5 million for information that helped it to find and kill Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen rebel leader.

The announcement by the FSB was apparently intended to spark infighting among Chechen rebels reeling from the death of their former President and to encourage them to turn in Shamil Basayev, the Chechen warlord.

Russia put a bounty of more than £5 million on each man’s head last year after accusing them of masterminding the Beslan school siege, in which 331 people were killed, half of them children.

The FSB, the successor to the KGB, said that it had received information about Maskhadov from unidentified “citizens” in return for the full financial reward and security guarantees.

The Kremlin has hailed the death of Maskhadov as a triumph for its hardline policy on Chechnya under President Putin, who has refused to negotiate with rebel leaders. Critics say that the insurgency will now fall into the hands of the more radical Mr Basayev, who has claimed responsibility for Beslan and other terrorist attacks, unlike Maskhadov, who renounced terrorism.

Chechen rebels have chosen Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, an obscure Islamic cleric, as their new leader, but analysts say that Mr Basayev will remain the paramount military commander. Mr Sadulayev pledged this week that his guerrillas would never surrender.

Moscow risks alienating pro-government Chechens by insisting that Maskhadov be buried in an unmarked grave under an anti-terrorism law.

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