Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that 15 Islamic organisations are terrorist groups and should be banned.

Two of the groups have links to rebel Chechen leaders fighting Moscow's control of the republic.

Warlord Shamil Basayev said his group was behind the Moscow theatre siege

A Kremlin spokesman said the court's decision that the organisations could officially be labelled "terrorists" could mean that Western governments would now feel able to take action against them.

Among the groups on the list are al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood - which is active in the Middle East - and the Kashmiri separatists of Lashkar-e-Toiba.

The Supreme Court's decision means that Russian authorities can freeze the banned organisations' assets and block movements of their members.

Sergei Yastrzhembsky, a Kremlin spokesman, said the verdict was vital because many European countries wanted to see a state where groups operate deem them as terrorist before taking action.

"After that, we can demand that our [foreign] partners add the movements operating in Chechnya to their lists," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax new agency.

Theatre connection

The two Chechnya-related groups are the Unified Forces of Caucasian Mujahideen of Shamil Basayev, a rebel leader, and the Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan of Movladi Udugov, a publicist for the separatist cause.

Mr Basayev claimed responsibility for last October's mass hostage-taking at a Moscow theatre. More than 100 of the captives and all the rebels were killed.

President Putin likens the Chechen conflict to the US "war on terror"

Mr Yastrzhembsky said Washington was "clearly interested in completing the process" of declaring the Chechen-related groups as terrorist organisations, "not simply showing understanding".

Correspondents say Russia has tried to equate its own campaign in Chechnya with the global "war on terror" spearheaded by US President George W Bush.

They add that the Kremlin would very much like to have its view vindicated by the US adding Chechen rebels to its list of international terrorist organisations.