MOSCOW, FEBRUARY 8: Acting President Vladimir Putin has warned Russians that if extremist terrorism was not stopped in the North Caucasus, the scourge may spread to other regions of Russia, triggering disintegration of the country.``If extremist terrorist forces get a hold in the Caucasus, this scourge may spread up the Volga River (where there are large predominantly Muslim areas), to other republics, and we will either face full Islamisation of Russia, or we will have to agree to Russia's division into several independent states,'' Putin said, in an exclusive interview to government controlled ORT television on Monday night.Apparently putting a more populist image as part of the presidential campaign, he was dressed casually in a sweater.Putin is far ahead of his arch-rival Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who became the first candidate today to officially register himself at the Central Election Commission, earning the right to launch campaign for the March 26 presidential election.Putin saidthat a strong state would inevitably enable Russia to stop terrorism and act as ``an instrument of guarantee of the rights and liberties of the individual.''Referring to the Chechen campaign, the acting President described the capture of Chechen capital Grozny as a ``turning point'' but at the same time he made it clear that bloodshed in the breakaway region will not stop instantly.``Clearly, we may be facing cases of violence and armed fighting for quite a prolonged period of time but it will be something radically different than what we face when large formations numbering several thousand people invaded Dagestan,'' he underlined.He said that the separatist rebellion in Chechnya was ``only a fragment'' of a greater ``general struggle for the remaking of the world'' on the part of ``extremist forces,'' particularly in Central Asia.Putin sharply criticized the Western leaders, who have been putting pressure on Russia to scale down the military campaign against Chechen terrorists, saying they havefailed to comprehend the depth of the problem.``We are not simply disappointed at the Western stance on the Chechen campaign,'' he said. ``We think, the direct political and economic support of Russia's struggle against cross-border terrorism, is in the national interest of the vast majority of the Western countries.''
