Maskhadov's letter to Bush*

21 May 2002.

Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Ilyas Akhmadov, the Foreign Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, arrived yesterday to Washington with a special assignment from President Aslan Maskhadov.^[19] During the visit, Ilyas Akhmadov will pass to the United States State Department a letter from President Aslan Maskhadov addressed to President George W. Bush.

It is expected that Chechnya will be discussed in Bush-Putin meeting. American-Russian 11 September relations' warmth had not prevented the Americans to bring up a peaceful solution to the Chechen Russian conflict. Russia is unhappy of the visit of Chechen Foreign Minister Ilyas Akhmadov to Washington.

Bush's "Pootie- Poot!" and future of Chechens

As Bush heads to Moscow this week for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Also, "To see the kind of relationship that Presidents Bush and Putin have developed and to see Russia firmly anchored in the West," National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice tells TIME, "that's really a dream of 300 years, not just of the post-cold war era."Rice acknowledges the limits to the new relationship. "There are still some hard issues with the Russians," she says.

Very little be said about Chechnya when George W.Bush meets Vladimir Putin this week in Moscow for the signing of a welcome agreement to slash their nuclear arsenal by two-thirds.

The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the Caucasus has been the scene of one of the most wretched wars, yet the most neglected, especially since Sept.11. Putin was among the first world leaders to call Bush following 9/11. More than sympathy, he offered help and delivered: Intelligence on Afghanistan and a no-objection certificate for the use of former Soviet air bases in Central Asian republics. In return, he won immunity for his dirty war in Chechnya, condemned by virtually every human rights group. It is one of the greater perversions of truth to call Putin's onslaught on Chechnya a war on terrorism.

Agency Caucasus

*Webauthor's note: As far as I know, Maskhadov's letter did not receive any answer from anyone in the US administration. Apparently Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice seem not to be aware that the Chechen conflict is leading exactly in the opposite direction of developing a "Russia firmly anchored in the West". How this kind of policy is forcing Russia's mass media system dangerously towards the former Soviet Union's mindset click here.