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| Caucasus |
| Chechnya: News from the other side... |
| 2002-06-27 |
| In response to the proposal by President of Chechen Republc of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov to stop military operations since July 15 and start the negotiations between the two sides, Moscow responded with traditional inconsistency and contradicting statements. Maybe opinion's not unanimous? Sergei Yastrzhembsky let everybody know that the Kremlin allegedly does not see any obstacles for contacts between Aslan Maskhadov's representative and representatives of Moscow. «You shouldn't force an open door», - Yastrzhembsky stated. «Nobody prevents Mr.Zakayev from getting in touch with Mr.Kazantsev on the conditions designated in the well-known statement of President of Russia», - Putin's assistant explained. "Okay, so we'll talk. Start talking, Aslan." Russian Defense Minister Ivanov holds quite another point of view. He totally excludes the possibility of any negotiations. «The kind of documents seized from the militants enables us to firmly state: negotiations with Maskhadov can only be conducted if he puts his hands up and a prosecutor will converse with him. That's the only possibility for the negotiations», - as Ivanov told journalists in Moscow. "We've talked before. He's a lying sonofabitch and we've iced his right-hand thug and he's got nothing left to trade. Maybe we don't want to talk. Maybe we don't need to talk!" The Russian Defense Minister told about a successful special operation, in which the headquarters of Aslan Maskhadov were allegedly destroyed and an attempt to attack the Chechen capital was prevented. So Aslan's house is burned down, his private papers collected, along with Khattab still being dead. And if they got Aslan's house before he had time to get his papers out, that means they probably came close to burning Aslan down along with his house. That could have something to do with why he wants to hold talks. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |