A pro-independence Chechen website that was shut down by the Lithuanian government and then removed from a Finnish server because of a posting that claimed responsibility for the school massacre in southern Russia began operating on a Swedish-owned server.

Jean Hamberg, managing director for Port80 AB, a Stockholm-based Internet service provider, said the website, www.kavkazcenter.com, was up and running on its servers since late last week.

"Nobody has complained about it," he said yesterday. "No officials, I should say."

The site is regarded as a clearing house for information and a mouthpiece for Chechen rebel leaders battling Russian troops in the breakaway province.

"The website is misinforming the world public about what is happening in Chechnya," Chechen Deputy Prime Minister and envoy to Moscow Ziyad Sabsabi told Interfax.

"It simply does not carry impartial information," he said. "The independent press, including western (media) is now capable of covering the developments in Chechnya itself without using the false reports from any websites."

Lithuania's State Security Department shut the site down in September when it was hosted by Elneta, an Internet service provider in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.

In early October, the site surfaced on a server owned by Finland's Sonera, but was shut down by the Finnish government.

Russia's government has called the site an "information tool of international terrorists."

Hamberg said the website would stay online, since it appeared to have not violated any law. "Our policy is if they are doing anything illegal, then they are out," he said. "If they're not doing anything illegal we do not wish to interfere."