RUSSIA has accused Britain and the United States of double standards on terrorism for granting political asylum to Chechen rebel representatives and allowing them to publicise their cause.

Sergei Lavrov, the Foreign Minister, told yesterday’s Vremya Novostei that the West had yet to shake off its Cold War mindset and that its security services were not fully co-operating with Russia in the fight against terrorism. “It’s a double standard,” he said.

Last year Britain granted political asylum to Akhmed Zakayev, a spokesman for the Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, after a British court turned down a Russian extradition request.

Russian officials accuse Mr Maskhadov of planning the Beslan school siege with the rebel commander Shamil Basayev, who has claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks over the past year. Mr Maskhadov, who denies involvement in the school siege, has appeared on British television on a number of occasions in recent days.

Washington has also angered Russia by granting asylum to another rebel representative, Ilyas Akhmadov, and saying it may meet other Chechen separatists.

Mr Lavrov said that Britain and the US should stop Mr Zakayev and Mr Akhmadov spreading what he called separatist propaganda. “It’s enough to recall a statement by Zakayev in London. He rudely and unequivocally declared that the events in Beslan ‘lie on the conscience of the Russian leadership’. I think everyone can appreciate how cynical that is,” Mr Lavrov said.

Russia’s security service, the FSB, has offered a $10 million (£5.6 million) reward for any information that helps it to “neutralise” Mr Maskhadov and Mr Basayev. Chechen rebels responded to the FSB’s bounty offer with a statement posted on separatist websites promising to pay $20 million to anyone helping them to capture President Putin.

Yesterday police found a cache of explosives, detonators and a gun hidden in a cinema in St Petersburg that was closed for renovation. Three men from Kazakhstan were arrested and four Kalashnikov assault rifles confiscated. Security officials said that the men were probably small-time criminals, but the discovery of explosives in a public building increased anxieties.

Investigators into last week’s siege in Beslan say that the hostage-takers may have hidden ammunition and explosives under the floor of the library before the attack, possibly by posing as decorators over the summer break.

The stash at the Progress cinema, in St Petersburg, included 900g (21b) of plastic explosive; 200g of TNT; two bombs made with plastic explosive, a detonator and wire; a sawn-off shotgun and 23 cartridges, the Interior Ministry said.

Colonel Vladislav Piotrovsky, the deputy police chief, said: “Some time ago, the movie theatre was purchased by businessmen who turned out to be members of an organised criminal group. This group was eliminated, and most of its members are currently in prison.

“Information was made available that criminal group members made this cache, which was later discovered by police. The cache was set up in the building in 1998. It has nothing to do with terrorist attacks or guerrillas’ plans,” he insisted.

Police made the find as pressure increased on President Putin to tighten security and to reconsider his policies in the North Caucasus, where the long war in Chechnya now threatens to spread.

Mr Putin, who became President in 2000 promising to end the war, has insisted that the Beslan attack has nothing to do with his policies in Chechnya, and has angrily dismissed suggestions from the West that he negotiate with moderate rebel leaders. That was no different from inviting Osama bin Laden to the White House, he said this week.

According to a survey, many Russians believe corruption in the security services is partly to blame for the Beslan attack and others. Most Muscovites surveyed by the respected Levada centre felt that the state could not protect them, 77 per cent of the 500 people interviewed saying the security services could not guarantee their security. The same survey showed 34 per cent of people blamed the FSB and police for the hostagetaking, compared to 33 per cent who blamed militants.

Five years ago dozens of people were killed when Moscow blocks of flats were blown up. The bomb attacks were blamed on Chechen rebels. Mr Putin, then Prime Minister, responded by sending troops back to Chechnya, a move that won him huge support and helped to propel him to the presidency.

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