Mothers of Beslan dead reject Kremlin promise

MOSCOW, Sep 1 (Reuters) Mothers of Russian children killed in the Beslan school siege three years ago rejected Kremlin promises today of a thorough investigation, saying the government was complicit in the deaths.

Hundreds of children were killed when troops stormed the school, seized by Chechen rebels at the start of the school year in September 2004.

President Vladimir Putin, speaking to young students at a school in south Russia, said the country would not forget the ''children who would never go to school again''.

Kremlin envoy Dmitry Kozak told families of the victims a solid investigation was being carried out into the handling of the siege, Russian local media reported. Any officials found negligent would face trial.

But members of the Beslan Mothers Committee, gathering in a Moscow square today along with 300 others, dismissed the government's latest gesture as empty.

''There will be no good results from this investigation, Kozak will make sure there are no guilty parties,'' committee head Ella Kesaeva told Reuters.

''We came to Moscow to give the message that you can't shut people up in society, we demand a fair investigation.'' Gunmen seized more than 1,000 children and parents attending a ceremony in Beslan to mark the new school year in September 2004. A total of 333 hostages -- half of them children -- died in the siege, which ended with a chaotic rescue attempt.

Witnesses in Beslan have said they saw Russian forces fire at the school, something Russian officials have denied.

''Security forces bombed the school for three hours... they were taking orders from someone higher up,'' Kesaeva said.

LETTER TO PUTIN In an open letter to Putin to mark the anniversary, the Beslan Mothers Committee urged him to use his last year in office to visit Beslan and tell the truth about the massacre.

''...Our children were sacrificed for someone's bureaucratic interests. We know this truth. The whole Russian people should know this too,'' the letter said.

Such demands could prove dangerous. The committee's lawyer, Taimuraz Chedzhemov, said he dropped a case against officials after receiving a death threat, Russian media reported.

For the first day of school in Russia, Putin, who is to step down after a March 2008 presidential election, visited a school in the south Russian city of Astrakhan where he spoke of the Beslan tragedy but did not discuss the ongoing investigation.

Kozak, presidential envoy to southern Russia, sought to quell fears of the Beslan mothers. ''A huge amount of work has been done, and it is unprecedented... Actions of every soldier have been analysed,'' Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Beslan is in the turbulent North Caucasus region in southern Russia, near to Chechnya where Russian forces have fought two wars against separatist rebels and from where the violence often spills over into neighbouring regions.

Putin built his power, first as prime minister and then as president, on a campaign to overthrow a Chechen rebel government and restore Kremlin control.

REUTERS PY RAI2335