Putin had earlier rejected talks with Chechen separatists, and ruled out a public inquiry into the storming of the school.
“Why don’t you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and give it to him so he leaves you in peace?” he said.
“You find it possible to set some limitations in your dealings with these bastards, so why should we talk to people who are child-killers?” he added in a meeting with journalists.
From the Reuters account of Putin’s remarks to Western journalists.