President Vladimir Putin attacked the West for calling on Russia to seek political dialogue with Chechen separatists in the wake of last week's school hostage siege in which at least 335 died - half of them children.
   
Putin also ruled out holding a public inquiry into the storming of the Beslan school after a three-day stand-off with rebels who demanded Chechnya's independence.
   
"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?" Putin was quoted as saying by Britain's Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.
   
"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?" said Putin, who spoke to a group of foreign journalists and academics late on Monday.

Meanwhile, at least 100,000 people are expected to attend a Moscow rally on Tuesday to denounce terrorism, bolstering Putin against critics over last week's hostage bloodbath.
   
The ruins of School No.1, where more than 1,000 hostages were held for 53 hours, has turned into a memorial, where funeral processions stop on their way to a new cemetery for the victims and where people come to lay flowers.
   
"I saw little ones die," said hospital nurse Svetlana. "I saw them come in covered in blood. They were babies.
   
Anti-terrorism rallies, which started on Monday marking a two-day official mourning for the victims of the Beslan drama, will climax in a massive event outside the Kremlin.
   
Television newscasts and slick advertisements featuring cultural and sports personalities have been promoting the rally, and media quoted city police as saying at least 100,000 could be expected.
   
But opposition politicians said the Moscow rally was deliberately planned to stave off criticism of the Kremlin's handling of the crisis and Putin's failure to ensure security for ordinary Russians.
   
"There is a need for a political protest, but the slogans which are being prepared ... do not reflect what needs to be done to avert a repetition of the tragedy," liberal politician Irina Khakamada told radio Ekho Moskvy.
   
"The rally will only reflect state ideology." 
    
Critics say Putin failed to keep a pledge he made on coming to power in 2000 to end a separatist revolt in Chechnya. They also say troops bungled Friday's operation to storm the school and free hostages.
   
In the past two weeks Chechen rebels, who have waged a 10-year campaign for independence, have also been blamed for bringing down two airliners, killing 90 people, and a Moscow metro suicide bombing which killed 10.
   
The hostage crisis has had ramifications beyond Russia's borders.
   
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called a meeting of NATO states and Russia for Tuesday to discuss the issue, but an alliance spokesman gave no further details.
   
"I can certainly assume there will be a strong expression of grief and sorrow," said one NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
   
But Chechnya has always been a thorny issue in cooperation between Russia and many Western countries, who have questioned Moscow's human rights record in fighting separatism in the troubled region.