Russia slams Germany for failure to arrest Chechen rebel envoy

MOSCOW : Russia slammed Germany for failing to arrest Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev, who is on a visit to Berlin for meetings with German politicians.

Russia has passed on a request via the Russian office of Interpol asking Germany to arrest and extradite Zakayev, whom Moscow considers a terrorist.

"To what extent are certain states which belong to this police organisation respecting their obligations?" Sergei Yastrzhembsky, a top aide of President Vladimir Putin, asked.

"If they continue to act in this way, then the existence of Interpol will be in doubt," he added, as quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Alexander Yakovenko, spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry, also criticized authorities in Berlin, though in less strident tones, saying Germany should instead be making contacts with pro-Moscow Chechen figures.

"The aim of Zakayev's visit is clear: to cast a shadow over the efforts that the Russian leadership is making for a political resolution of the situation in the Chechen republic," said Yakovenko in a statement.

Zakayev was granted asylum in Britain late last year after a London court said he would not get a fair trial in Russia and might even face torture there.

He is an envoy of Aslan Maskhadov, the rebel leader who considers himself president of Chechnya, Russia's tiny Caucasus republic where Moscow's troops have been trying to quell a separatist insurgency since 1999.

Moscow accuses Zakayev, a former rebel field commander, of crimes ranging from murder to abduction.

Zakayev was first arrested in Denmark -- where he was attending a Chechen congress -- before a court there ordered his release. He then travelled to Britain.

On Thursday the envoy met with German parliamentary deputies during a trip to Berlin aimed at winning European support for the Chechen cause.

"I told them that European Union countries and all of Europe should help not just the Chechens, but tell the Russian and Chechen presidents to stop the conflict," Zakayev told AFP through a translator.

The German government has assured his security while he is in the country.

Zakayev, who is in Berlin at the invitation of the German-Caucasus society (DKG), is also due to meet government coalition and opposition party leaders and speak at a forum on the conflict in Chechnya.

Russian troops poured into Chechnya in October 1999 in what the Kremlin described as an "anti-terrorist" operation, the second such war there in a decade.

The conflict has since degenerated into guerrilla warfare, with troops, rebels and civilians killed nearly on a daily basis. Some 80,000 people are estimated to have fled when Moscow launched its second war.

Russia last year launched its political solution in the region, holding a much-criticized presidential poll that saw the Moscow- appointed administrator Akhmad Kadyrov elected as president.

Russia threatens to retaliate for Chechen envoy`s visit to Germany

Moscow, RIA Novostei, 29 January: The Russian president's aide, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, has cast doubt on the need for Interpol, given the appearance in Germany of an emissary from the Chechen fighters, Akhmed Zakayev.

"The behaviour of Interpol and its response to international search warrants gives food for thought and makes one wonder what need there is for Interpol - a question that has to be answered. It also raises the question of how responsibly certain states which are members of this police organization approach their obligations," Yastrzhembsky told journalists on Thursday [29 January].

"If Interpol is going to carry on this way, then probably the very need for its existence will be called in question," Yastrzhembsky said. He said that if the information that Zakayev "is a guest of one of the leaders of the Social Democratic [SPD] faction in the German Bundestag is correct, then it raises the question of whether he (the deputy) should be allowed to make the visit to Russia which he was planning for mid-February".

"This is probably a question for the State Duma rather than the executive authorities, because the Bundestag is the State Duma's partner. This is already a question for Konstantin Kosachev and his committee [on international affairs]," Yastrzhembskiy noted.

"I think one is right to ask whether such a visit is appropriate, when one of the leaders of the SPD demonstrates complete contempt for Russia's interests," he added. Yastrzhembsky recalled that the legal situation with regard to Zakayev remains unchanged.

"As you know, the Office of the Prosecutor-General has reiterated its position. As far as we are concerned, Zakayev is on the international wanted list. All the demands formulated by the Prosecutor-General's Office remain in force. In other words, he continues to be sought by the Russian law-enforcement agencies so that he can be brought to trial on suspicion of committing an entire string of serious crimes connected with terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and so on," Yastrzhembsky said.

eng.kavkaz.memo.ru 29/1/2004

Human rights activists are anxious about ecological situation in Chechnya

Activists of Russian human rights organizations have raised their concern about the ecological situation in Chechnya. "Ecological conditions in Chechnya today are very bad, which is a result of the hostilities," Aleksandr Cherkasov, an activist of the Human Rights Center "Memorial", said in Strasbourg.

According to his data, a sizeable part of the Chechen territory is polluted with petroleum refining wastes, many areas have been deforested for heating, and the problem of removing household rubbish from settlements have not been solved for several years.

Aleksandr Cherkasov added that the problem of clearing the territory of Chechnya from mines was also critical. "There are no maps of land mining. Specialists of international organizations engaged in humanitarian mine clearing do not work in Chechnya, and local authorities pay little attention to this problem," the human rights activist said.

If cooperation between the republican government and NGOs became more active, it would contribute to the improvement of the humanitarian and ecological situation in Chechnya, Aleksandr Cherkasov stated.

Source: Interfax News Agency