The most feared Chechen rebel warlord, Shamil Basayev, has been shown on Russian television, three months after he was widely reported dead.

The footage of a news conference somewhere in the Chechen mountains was shown late on Monday on the NTV channel, which said it had obtained the film from Chechen sources.

Mr Basayev's death was reported in April by the Russian army's chief of staff, General Anatoly Kvashnin - but his words were later described as premature by Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Chechen websites have often mocked Russian officials for issuing "exaggerated" reports of the death of warlords.

Joint appearance

One, Salman Raduyev, was believed dead after being shot in the head in 1996.

Aslan Maskhadov beat Basayev to win the Chechen presidency

However, he reappeared four months later after treatment abroad.

The footage of Mr Basayev shows him being interviewed, together with the Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, who was elected president of the Chechen republic in 1997.

NTV said the interview - reportedly given earlier this month - was the first joint appearance by the two men for a long time.

Both consulted lap-top computers in front of them as they answered a journalist's questions.

Mr Maskhadov spoke in Russian, Mr Basayev in Arabic.

'Liberation' plan

The Chechenpress website reported on Monday that Mr Basayev had been appointed to head a newly established military committee, at an expanded meeting of the rebel State Defence Council held from 27 June to 3 July.

It said the meeting discussed plans for a summer-autumn military operation to "liberate the Chechen state".

Mr Basayev became Russia's public enemy number one during the 1994-96 Chechen war, when he led a daring hostage-taking raid on a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk.

He continued fighting after losing a leg in a landmine accident in February 2000 during a retreat from the capital Grozny after the city was re-taken by Russian forces.