 The self-proclaimed Shura of Dagestan welcomed the "liberation" and declared an Islamic state, but proved to have relatively little authority.In September 1999, transcripts of a number of alleged phone conversations conducted by Berezovsky with Udugov, Makhashev and other radical Chechens in June and July 1999 were published by Moskovskij Komsomolets newspaper.According to Paul Klebnikov, the newspaper speculated that the negotiations between Berezovsky and his Chechen interlocutors concerned the attack on Dagestan.