Russian troops "wage war
against Chechen refugees": Rights groups
Agence France-Presse Moscow, January 21
Russian human rights groups on Tuesday denounced a "war against Chechen refugees"
in neighbouring Ingushetia following a wave of sweeps they said were intended
to force the refugees to return to their homeland against their will.
The interventions by Russian armed forces in the camps in Ingushetia, just across
the border from Chechnya "have become increasingly frequent, and are on
almost the same scale as those in Chechnya itself," Svetlana Gannushkina, of the
Memorial human rights group, told a press conference.
"The Chechen conflict is broadening. They're waging a virtual war against the
refugees in Ingushetia," said Lidia Grafova, director of the Migration human
rights group and also a member of a government commission on migrations.
The Memorial spokeswoman cited a January 6 operation in which four young
Chechens were arrested at the Satsita camp at Sleptsovsk by armed men wearing
camouflage. Two of the four have not been seen since.
Around 17,000 Chechens currently live in the camps, according to official figures.
Several thousand refugees were persuaded to return to Chechnya last year
under a policy designed to clear the camps by the end of 2002.
Russian authorities insisted the returns were voluntary, but human rights groups
said that Russian troops had applied strong pressure on the refugees to leave
the camps.
Moscow argues that the situation in Chechnya, where it sent in troops to
put down a separatist insurgency in October 1999, has returned to normal.
It is organising a referendum on a new Chechen constitution in March, to
be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections.