Russian rights group: anti-terror op in Chechnya should end
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax) - A key Russian human rights group on Wednesday expressed support for a declared plan by the Kremlin to end the official counterterrorist operation in Chechnya but complained about human rights offenses in the republic such as "the resumed practice of abduction of people" and "the practice of illegal secret prisons."
"It is indeed no longer justified to continue the counterterrorist operation on the territory of the Chechen republic as a whole," Oleg Orlov, head of the Memorial organization, Russia's leading nongovernmental human rights monitor for the North Caucasus, told Interfax.
"While the armed confrontation in the Chechen republic has become less intense, this violence has crept into nearby regions. It makes no sense to have the territory of the Chechen republic as the site of a counterterrorist operation," he said.
"Of course, as regards the intensity of armed confrontation, Chechnya is not worse off as at the moment than the neighboring North Caucasus republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia," Orlov said.
He cited official reports that more security personnel were killed or wounded in Ingushetia and Dagestan this winter than in Chechnya.
At the same time, he said: "Unfortunately, one can't say that terrorism (in Chechnya) has been defeated."
He also expressed concern over alleged human rights violations in Chechnya.
"For one thing, we are worried by the resumed practice of abduction of people and by the practice of illegal secret prisons on the territory of the Chechen republic," he said.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said on Wednesday that the counterterrorist operation might be terminated by the end of this month.
A Kremlin source told Interfax: "There are such plans (to stop the operation) but it is too early to speak of any timetable."
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