MOSCOW, Sept 5 (AFP) - Shamil Basayev, whose hand is often behind the most brutal strikes against Russia but who has so far stayed silent about the deadly school siege at Beslan, is Russia's most wanted man whose rebel movement once enjoyed tacit support from the West.
No evidence has been made public to back up an assertion by Russian secret service officials that the hostage-taking at the school, which ultimately cost the lives of up to 400 adults and children, was masterminded by Basayev, 39, nor has he himself issued any claim of responsibility.
But it would certainly fit in with his reputation.
All shaggy beard and military fatigue, Basayev shot to world prominence in 1995 when he led a band of heavily armed men into Russia and seized a hospital, demanding the end of the war in his Chechen republic that was condemned in the West.
More than 160 people died in that operation, most patients slain by Russian bullets while Western reporters crouched at Basayev's side.
His tactics were not necessarily appreciated by the West, but he came to symbolize the Chechen fight for independence in the face of an overwhelming Russian army that used heavy and seemingly indiscriminate force in the first Chechen war.
His brazen tactics and clear lack of fear on the battlefield have made him one of the most feared men in Russia, and his claims of responsibility for other attacks are often impossible to verify.
He has also been reported killed on various occasions only to pop up alive and well later, turning into a mythical figure haunting the Kremlin.
Born in January 1965 in Vedeno, a mountain-top town in southeast Chechnya, Basayev displayed few signs of military prowess early on.
Little is known of his army record except that he served as a fireman.
However he gained considerable combat experience in the years after Chechen president Dzhokar Dudayev's unilateral declaration of independence in November 1991, appearing wherever conflict broke out in the Caucasus.
His reputation was sealed by a daring operation enabling Chechen forces to recapture the Chechen capital Grozny from Russian troops in August 1996, paving the way for a peace deal later that month.
Basayev dabbled briefly in politics, running for the Chechen presidency in January 1997 before taking up arms again in 1999.
Russian authorities hold him responsible for a spate of deadly bomb attacks on apartment blocks in Moscow and elsewhere between August and September 1999 that killed 293 people.
He denies involvement, and no Chechen rebels have taken responsibility for those strikes, although Basayev did lead a series of deadly incursion into the neighboring republic of Dagestan with his sidekick Khattab -- now dead -- that summer.
The violent events prompted Moscow to pour troops and weapons into Chechnya in what was described as an "anti-terrorist operation" but has since sunk into a bloody guerrilla conflict.
Then, in October 2002, 41 Chechen fighters stormed a theatre in Moscow and took more than 800 people hostage to push demands for an end to the war.
The rebels' leader in the operation said they were acting under the orders of Basayev, "our supreme military emir."
The standoff ended when Russian special forces pumped a poisonous gas into the theatre to knock out the rebels, but it still cost the lives of 129 of the hostages.
In May 2003, Basayev claimed his guerrillas were behind suicide attacks in Chechnya that killed 78 people, in December that year another two which killed 52, and earlier this year coordinated attacks in neighboring Ingushetia that left 88 dead.
Via a website, he also claimed responsibility for a May 9, 2004 bombing in Grozny that killed the republic's pro-Kremlin president, Akhmad Kadyrov.
Last year the United States labeled Basayev a threat to national security and imposed financial sanctions including a freeze on his assets. US officials say he has received support from Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda network.
Basayev, who lost a leg in February 2000 after stepping on a landmine, has sought to restore a 19th-century Islamic state in the North Caucasus.