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Chechen rebels call for peace talks, UN intervention
Moscow, July 11: Chechen separatists would welcome UN intervention in the longstanding conflict in Chechnya to sponsor a peace settlement that Russia has flatly refused to negotiate, rebel president Aslan Maskhadov`s spokesman said.
Moscow, July 11: Chechen separatists would welcome UN intervention in the longstanding conflict in Chechnya to sponsor a peace settlement that Russia has flatly refused to negotiate, rebel president Aslan Maskhadov's spokesman said.
"What we are talking about is a UN interim administration in Chechnya and our readiness to submit to such an administration and help its work," Salambek Maigov said in remarks broadcast on the Ekho Moskvy radio station late yesterday.
"(Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin's statement that negotiations could lead to Russia's breakdown, requires another country to guarantee the resolution of this bloody conflict, and that could be either an international organisation or a UN Security Council member," Maigov added. He assured that the separatists "were aware of Russia's geopolitical and security interests and is ready to make reasonable concessions in respect to those."
However, Kremlin aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky shrugged off the offer, reiterating Moscow's belief that Maskhadov, whom Russia accuses of links with terrorists such as the feared warlord Shamil Basayev, could no longer speak for Chechnya.
"Maskhadov has wasted away the time for such talks, and now the political settlement in Chechnya will go by way of elections of the republic's legitimate resident," Yastrzhembsky said late Thursday as quoted by Interfax.
"So any such initiative is no longer of any interest to Moscow, as it is only private business of a person those representative powers no one recognises," the aide added.
"(Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin's statement that negotiations could lead to Russia's breakdown, requires another country to guarantee the resolution of this bloody conflict, and that could be either an international organisation or a UN Security Council member," Maigov added. He assured that the separatists "were aware of Russia's geopolitical and security interests and is ready to make reasonable concessions in respect to those."
However, Kremlin aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky shrugged off the offer, reiterating Moscow's belief that Maskhadov, whom Russia accuses of links with terrorists such as the feared warlord Shamil Basayev, could no longer speak for Chechnya.
"Maskhadov has wasted away the time for such talks, and now the political settlement in Chechnya will go by way of elections of the republic's legitimate resident," Yastrzhembsky said late Thursday as quoted by Interfax.
"So any such initiative is no longer of any interest to Moscow, as it is only private business of a person those representative powers no one recognises," the aide added.