LONDON, Sept 7 (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out a public inquiry into the Beslan school siege and snarled at those who think he should do business with Chechen militants, two British newspapers said Tuesday.
Putin made his remarks in a late-night chat Monday with a group of foreign journalists and Russia experts which included correspondents for the Guardian and the Independent newspapers.
Putin said he would hold an internal inquiry into the Beslan tragedy, in which at least 335 people, half of them children, were killed after a three-day standoff in the North Ossetia town.
"I want to establish the chronicle of events and find out who is responsible and might be punished," he said, according to the Guardian's account of the conversation at his Novo Ogarevo country retreat.
But, The Guardian said he ruled out a public inquiry that might address widespread criticism of the way in which the crisis was handled. Neither British newspaper carried a direct quote to that effect.
Putin also said that Russia remained interested in a political solution in Chechnya.
"We will continue our dialogue with civil society," he said, according to The Independent. "This will include holding parliamentary elections, trying to get as many people as possible involved, with as many views and policies as possible."
He added that more Chechens would be recruited into the republic's police force, and that Russian troops will in time be pulled back to barracks "just as the United States does in California and Texas".
But with Chechen extremists suspected of having ordered the Beslan hostage-taking, Putin said there was no connection between Kremlin policy and the school siege.
"Just imagine that people who shoot children in the back came to power anywhere on our planet," he said, according to the Guardian's report.
"Just ask yourself that, and you will have no more questions about our policy in Chechnya," he said.
The Guardian said Putin made it clear that he believes the quest for an independent Chechnya as the spearhead of a strategy by Chechen Islamists, backed by foreign fundamentalists, to undermine all of southern Russia.
"There are Muslims along the Volga, in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan," he said. "Chechnya isn't Iraq. It's not far away. It's a vital part of our territory. This is all about Russia's territorial integrity."
Both the Guardian and the Independent, which published Putin's nocturnal remarks in their final editions, quoted in full his scarcastic response to those who suggest he consider negotiations with Chechen hardliners.
"Why don't you meet (Al-Qaeda leader) Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace? Why don't you do that?" he said.
"You find it possible to set some limitations in your dealings with these bastards," he added, "so why should we talk to people who are childkillers?"
"No one has a moral right to tell us to talk to childkillers," he continued.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but (former British prime minister) Margaret Thatcher, whom I've met more than once, said: 'A man who comes out into the street to kill other people must himself be killed'."