Chechen rebel calls on the world for help

LONDON – A Chechen rebel envoy yesterday urged the international community to help bring peace to the southern Russian republic and warned of future tragedies on the scale of the school hostage seizure in Beslan unless stability was restored.

Akhmed Zakayev, the top aide of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, accused Western governments of giving Russian president Vladimir Putin carte blanche to crush the rebels by force. “Putin’s policies have not stabilised Chechnya, but have brought about a worsening of the situation,” Zakayev said at a news conference in central London.”If Putin’s policy toward Chechnya continues in the same vein, the Caucasus will radicalise even further and I am gravely concerned that more Beslans will be inevitable,” Zakayev added, referring to the three-day school siege that left at least 330 hostages dead.Russian authorities have said Maskhadov, Chechnya’s president from 1996 to 1999, was connected to the hostage-taking – a charge Zakayev yesterday dismissed.Zakayev said the West must urge Russia to hold peace talks with “the democratically elected government of Chechnya, under the auspices of international mediators,” and suggested the United Nations would be the best body to oversee such talks.Zakayev has been granted refugee status in Britain despite relentless efforts by Russian authorities to persuade the British government to turn him over.Moscow alleges that Zakayev was a senior Chechen military commander who fought against Russian forces between October 1995 and December 2000 and accuse him of murder and kidnapping.He denies the charges.Chechnya has been wracked by war and violence for nearly a decade.Russian forces withdrew from the southern region in 1996 after separatist fighters fought them to a stalemate but returned later.- Nampa-AP”Putin’s policies have not stabilised Chechnya, but have brought about a worsening of the situation,” Zakayev said at a news conference in central London.”If Putin’s policy toward Chechnya continues in the same vein, the Caucasus will radicalise even further and I am gravely concerned that more Beslans will be inevitable,” Zakayev added, referring to the three-day school siege that left at least 330 hostages dead.Russian authorities have said Maskhadov, Chechnya’s president from 1996 to 1999, was connected to the hostage-taking – a charge Zakayev yesterday dismissed.Zakayev said the West must urge Russia to hold peace talks with “the democratically elected government of Chechnya, under the auspices of international mediators,” and suggested the United Nations would be the best body to oversee such talks.Zakayev has been granted refugee status in Britain despite relentless efforts by Russian authorities to persuade the British government to turn him over.Moscow alleges that Zakayev was a senior Chechen military commander who fought against Russian forces between October 1995 and December 2000 and accuse him of murder and kidnapping.He denies the charges.Chechnya has been wracked by war and violence for nearly a decade.Russian forces withdrew from the southern region in 1996 after separatist fighters fought them to a stalemate but returned later.- Nampa-AP