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“ People who approve of Putin’s policies, people who pay their taxes for this war, people who send their soldiers to this war, priests who sprinkle holy water on them . . . How can they be innocent? They are just without weapons. Russian citizens are accomplices of this war, it just may be that they have no weapons in their hands. Peaceful people for us are those that don’t pay taxes for this war, people who don’t participate, and who speak against this war.”

Mr Basayev’s interview is likely to deepen President Putin’s embarrassment. The second Chechen war has raged since September 1999 when he was Prime Minister, and his pledge to crush the separatist rebels helped win him the presidency in March 2000.

Since then the hostilities have become a festering wound for the Kremlin, and despite strict media controls dissatisfaction within Russia has grown. Events such as the Beslan school tragedy have caused a profound shock throughout Russian society and have brought the unresolved war ever closer to home.

The rebels, who assassinated Chechnya’s pro-Moscow President Kadyrov last May, have attacked not just civilian targets. Mr Basayev claims in the interview that they launched 15 large-scale attacks on Russian military targets last year, including four attacks involving between 200 and 300 mujahidin.

• A rebel website reported yesterday that Basayev had ordered his units to stop offensive operatons until February 22 as a gesture of goodwill. The report, on www.kavkazcenter.com, could not immediately be confirmed.
  
  

  LIFE AND TIMES OF BASAYEV

  1965: Born in Chechen village of Vedeno

  1991: Joins defence of Boris Yeltsin at White House in Moscow. Hijacks aircraft from Russia to Turkey to raise awareness about Chechnya

  1993: Fights with Abkhaz rebels against Georgia

  1994: Bodyguard of Dzhokar Dudayev, Chechen separatist president. Leads defence of Grozny against Russia

  1995: Seizes hundreds at Budennovsk hospital, after members of family killed in Russian raid

  1996: Leads recapture of Grozny. Defeated in Chechen presidential elections

  1999: Russia offers reward for his capture

  2000: Loses a foot in mine explosion

  2002: Alive three months after Russia announces his death. Claims responsibility for Moscow’s theatre siege

  2004: Claims responsibility for killing Chechen President. Accused of masterminding Beslan school siege

  The Channel 4 interview with Basayev will be shown at 7pm tonight.

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