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[Second Issue of the Day]
#7
Russia says clamping down on Chechen rights abuses
By Clara Ferreira-Marques
MOSCOW, March 29 (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it would crack down on human rights abuses committed by its forces in anti-rebel special operations in Chechnya, but rights campaigners dismissed the move as an empty propaganda step.
A military decree, announced in Chechnya by Russia's top officer there, will authorise local authorities, elders and journalists to monitor Russian army "sweep operations" aimed at flushing out rebels from Chechnya's villages.
"This document offers a range of measures which could change the way special operations are conducted, increasing the responsibility of the military (for their crimes) and making it impossible to escape punishment," Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky told a news briefing."
Under the order, announced by General Vladimir Moltenskoi who commands Russian forces in Chechnya, soldiers will have to bare their faces in such operations and identify themselves to local residents.
"When the operations finish, lists of those detained will be drawn up," Yastrzhembsky said. "This will answer residents' concerns about the fate of detained relatives."
But campaigner Diederik Lohman, head of the Moscow chapter of Human Rights Watch, said the order would do little to improve the situation in Chechnya where Russian soldiers have regularly been accused of looting, torture and murder.
"Most of what Yastrzhembsky said was promised a long time ago," Lohman said. "This is just a propaganda step."
The order came after the U.N. Commission on Human Rights discussed Chechnya at its annual meeting in Geneva this week. The Commission is due to meet rights campaigners early next week.
Russia's tactics in Chechnya, in particular the way forces conduct "sweep operations," have been sharply criticised by the United States, the European Union and several non-governmental organisations.
MURDER AND LOOTING
Since the present Chechnya military campaign began in 1999, a total of 33 Russian servicemen, including four officers, had been charged with crimes including murder and looting, Yastrzhembsky said.
"Over two-and-a-half years of war, thousands of civilians have been killed," Lohman said. "These numbers are laughable."
Earlier this month villagers dragged the charred bodies of what they said were victims of a rampage by Russian soldiers through the capital Grozny in a widely-broadcast protest.
In January, Moscow announced 92 rebels had been killed in a month-long crackdown -- one of the bloodiest operations reported for more than a year -- prompting U.S. accusations that Russia was using "overwhelming force" in the region.
International criticism of Russia's heavy-handed tactics died down after the September 11 attacks when Western powers accepted the Kremlin's contention that Chechen rebels had links with the al Qaeda network.
A Kremlin envoy and a representative of rebel Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov held a single round of peace talks in November. But no one has since returned to the negotiating table.
"The door opened with President Vladimir Putin's interview last September is still open," Yastrzhembksy said. "The question is whether Maskhadov's representatives will walk through it."
According to figures issued by the Kremlin this week, more than 12,000 rebels and 3,000 Russian troops have been killed in the conflict. The figures are contested by both Chechen representatives and non-governmental organisations.
Russian forces returned to Chechnya in 1999 to crush separatists three years after a 1994-96 war ended in a humiliating retreat from the region.
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