Hundreds of demonstrators have protested against the Russian war in Chechnya on the second anniversary of the seizure of a crowded Moscow theater by Chechen rebels.
The protesters stood under cold gray skies in a central Moscow square, some holding white balloons emblazoned with the slogan "No War."
Russian media reported that about 500 protesters participated and that few of the well-known democratic politicians who were among the event's sponsors had turned up.
But the head of the All-Russian Public Movement for Human Rights, Lev Ponomaryov, told Ekho Moskvy radio that as many as 3,000 demonstrators joined the rally, whose organizers adopted the theme "Defend Our Freedom. No Terror in Russia."
About 200 police officers stood guard, and participants filed through metal detectors to get on the square.
Russian forces have been fighting Chechen rebels for much of the last decade. The first 1994-96 war ended with a Russian withdrawal and left the southern region with de facto independence. Russian troops returned again in 1999 when rebels raided a neighboring Russian region and after a series of deadly apartment bombings blamed on rebels.
President Vladimir Putin has refused to negotiate with the rebels, whom he calls terrorists. But the Kremlin's attempt at a military victory has become bogged down, and Chechen rebels and their sympathizers have increasingly turned to terror attacks.
The recent series of attacks, including the hostage-taking at a school in southern Russia, killed more than 430 people and terrified this nation of 150 million. Shamil Basayev, a Chechen rebel leader long hunted by federal forces, reportedly claimed responsibility.
Basayev also said he helped orchestrate the October 23, 2002, siege at a Moscow theater where some 800 people were taken hostage. The siege lasted 60 hours and left 129 hostages dead, mostly from effects of a narcotic gas Russian forces used to subdue the attackers.
AP