2003-01-27 16:56
CHECHNYA MUST BE RUSSIA'S CONSTITUENT MEMBER, SAYS PACE CHAIRMAN
STRASBOURG, JANUARY 27, 2003 /from RIA Novosti's Viktor Onuchko/ -
Chechnya must remain part of the Russian Federation, Peter Schider, Chairman
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, opined Monday at
a news conference ahead of the opening PACE winter session.
The Council of Europe advocates an utmost autonomy and self- government of Chechnya,
as well as observance of its cultural rights, within the Russian Federation,
said Mr Schider. In comments on a conferee's remark, Mr Schider said he
had never pronounced himself in favour of Chechnya's independence.
The PACE Chairman referred to a report on Chechnya developments to be made
following the visit to the region by a PACE delegation led by Lord Judd,
slated for January 29, as a most crucial item on the winter session agenda.
Mr Schider reiterated that he would welcome any initiative whatsoever aimed
at peaceful settlement of the Chechnya problem. He then singled out two
most important, from his viewpoint, aspects that need to be necessarily
discussed. Firstly, the Chechen draft constitution should be assessed as
to its compliance with PACE norms. Secondly, he proposed to discuss the
date of the Chechen referendum on the constitution. Moscow has already fixed
the event for March 23.
When asked about whether Council of Europe observers would monitor the upcoming
referendum in Chechnya, Mr Schider said the Council did lan to send its
observers to the republic. This is a somewhat complicated problem, which
is linked, above all, to ensuring their security, he added. The problem
will also be prominent at the winter session.
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Webauthor's comment: No mercy. No humanity. No respect. To ask Chechens,
after all what happened, to remain part of the Russian Federation amounts to pretend
from Israel to be a federate state of the third Reich. Anyhow, if there is a positive
aspect in all this, it is that finally we know of what kind of human and moral
stuff these puppets of the Western realpolitical governments are made of.