Russia strongly opposes attempts to politicize the United Nations role in the troubled North Caucasus, said Russian Foreign Ministry on November 10.

The involvement of UN agencies in the Russian government's relief efforts in Chechnya must not go beyond the framework of usual humanitarian activity, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin at a briefing.

"The UN role in this context must not be politicized," Rakhmanin stressed.

He said that Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ordzhonikidze met Tuesday with members of the UN humanitarian mission, which visited Ingushetia and Dagestan on November 3-8.

"The mission members ensured that their work in North Caucasus is of an exclusively humanitarian nature and does not extend to the political aspects," said the spokesman.

He also said the UN cooperators had agreed with Moscow that " there is no humanitarian catastrophe in Chechnya despite the complicated situation in the region."