MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - Amnesty International has questioned a request by the Chechen authorities that organizations providing humanitarian assistance in Chechnya move their offices and supplies of aid there.

"It is not clear which section of the law the Chechen authorities have in mind in making this demand," Amnesty International Russia director Sergei Nikitin said. Human Rights Watch also viewed the initiative with suspicion.

Humanitarian organizations have a number of reasons for not wanting to be based inside Chechnya, for example, out of security concerns, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division, Rachel Denber, told Interfax.

If the new initiative is mandatory, access to Chechnya will be restricted for humanitarian organizations that do not have an office there, she said.