MOSCOW, Sept 9: Chechen rebels placed a 20 million dollar bounty on Thursday on the head of President Vladimir Putin in a tit-for-tat response to Moscow's decision to place a 10 million dollar price tag on two top guerrilla commanders.

The rebel Internet site Kavkazcenter accused Putin of waging a "criminal war" and "murdering hundreds of thousands of peaceful civilians on the territory of Chechnya, including tens of thousands of children."

It also accused Putin of overseeing a military that kidnaps civilians, and of ruining dozens of Chechen cities. On Wednesday, Russia offered 10 million dollars to anyone who can lead them to Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, rebel commanders whom Moscow accuses of organizing the Beslan school hostage crisis that killed at least 336 people, half of them children.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Russia views all rebels as terrorists and refuses to hold negotiations with the more moderate Chechens, relying instead on its own government that it installed in controversial elections that were condemned by the west as flawed. -AFP