Russia also wants to get its hands on Bin Laden

MOSCOW -- They might disagree on Iran, anti-missile defense, but there is one area that Russia and the United States couldn't agree more -- Osama Bin Laden.

Russian counterterrorism officials want to get their hands on the Saudi billionaire fugitive just as much as their U.S. counterparts. Russian officials said Bin Laden is responsible for much of the financing and training of Islamic insurgents fighting troops in Chechnya. Bin Laden is said to be hiding in Afghanistan.

Officials said Bin Laden's arena these days is Yemen, according to Middle East Newsline. They said Bin Laden's family owns an array of businesses -- including farms and gasoline stations. Bin Laden operatives train Yemenis, Arab and African nationals in five centers in the mountainous regions of the country -- out of reach of the regime of President Abdullah Saleh.

The recruits come cheap: $500 a month and they are often excellent fighters who can fight for long periods with only small amounts of food and water. Currently, several hundred recruits are being trained.

The officials said the insurgents are sent from Yemen to countries in or around Central Asia. These include Afghanistan, Georgia and Pakistan. From there, the guerrillas enter Chechnya.

Bin Laden does not fund the insurgents from his own pocket. Officials said his operatives raise money in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Gulf countries. Thousands of dollars are collected weekly in Yemen itself, one of the poorest countries in the world.

Russia has pressed its neighbors to stop the flow of insurgents into Chechnya. This includes Georgia and Afghanistan. Russia's Muslim neighbors such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have echoed Moscow's charges of increased Taliban training of insurgents who want to overthrow the secular regimes in Central Asia.

Moscow has even threatened to attack the Taliban militia, which is harboring Bin Laden. "I do not rule out the possibility of military steps," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov agreed. "Russia has not been and cannot be indifferent," he said. "It will work with its partners on adequate measures which would liquidate any cases of aggressive sorties from Afghan territory."