Exiled Chechen Zakayev Rejects Call To Come Home - Report

MOSCOW (AFP)--Exiled Chechen rebel Akhmed Zakayev has rejected an offer from Chechnya's official leader to return home in safety, a Russian newspaper reported Wednesday.

Zakayev, who fled into exile in London in 2002 after Chechnya's second separatist war of the post-Soviet era, told Moskovsky Komsomolets he had been visited by an aide to Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov and spoke on the aide's mobile phone with a man said to be Kadyrov.

Zakayev rejected the offer to come home and work in his former profession as a theater actor or run the concert hall, saying that a spate of politically linked murders in Russia meant no guarantee of safety could be trusted.

"I don't think such promises are reliable. Kadyrov's own security is in question. A couple of months ago there was an assassination attempt at his home, although this fact was officially denied.

"I doubt any one right now can give a complete security guarantee on the territory of Russia, not only in Chechnya but also in Moscow," said Zakayev.

"Ramzan and many other people are concerned about my work situation but I'm quite satisfied with my current post as prime minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria," said Zakayev, using the name used by Chechen rebel leaders to refer to the territory.

Zakayev's return has long been sought by Kadyrov, who is close to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and has spearheaded reconstruction after the devastating Russian military assault.

However, he insisted in an interview with the Trud newspaper that his invitation to Zakayev was "absolutely sincere" and not a question of "enticing" him back.