On several occasions, Umarov firmly denied any involvement in indiscriminate attacks against civilians and questioned its legitimacy and value. In a June 2005 interview with Andrei Babitsky, he criticized Basayev for ordering the Beslan raid, saying that most of the Chechen resistance does not consider the Beslan hostage taking was a legitimate response to Russian actions in Chechnya ("if we resort to such methods, I do not think any of us will be able to retain his human face"). Umarov's controversial appointment of Basayev to the post of prime minister in 2006 was preceded by a public statement rejecting attacks against civilians as a tactic. In another statement in 2004 Umarov wrote: "Our targets are the Russian occupation forces, their military bases, command headquarters and also their local collaborationists who pursue and kill peaceful Muslims. Civil objects and innocent civilians are not our targets."