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Russia Raps US Meeting with Chechen Rebels
Russia sharply criticized a meeting between a US senior diplomat and an envoy of the Chechen rebel regime, saying such contact demonstrates the US policy of "double standards."
The meeting between the "foreign minister" of the Chechen rebel regime Ilyas Akhmadov and US Special Adviser for Newly Independent States John Beyrle is "above all, of a political nature" and reflects US "double standards" toward Russia and the anti-terrorism fight, the office of presidential aid Sergei Yastrzhembsky said.
The US State Department condemned recent terrorist acts in Russia's Stavropol region on Monday, while meeting at the same time with Akhmadov, the office noted, stating that "Such an approach does not promote, in any way, Russia's efforts to combat terrorism."
"In spite of Russia's protests," the office said, "officials in Washington are trying to justify this unfriendly act toward Russia by saying that they intend to ascertain Akhmadov's views on the current situation in Chechnya."
For some reason, the US invited Akhmadov, who left Chechnya in October 1999 and is not likely to be well informed about the situation there, to Washington for talks, while choosing not to get information from Akhmad Kadyrov, the legal head of the Chechen administration, the office said.
During Kadyrov's visit to the US in September of 2000, none of the US officials cared to meet with him, it added.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko also denounced the US meeting with Chechen rebels as "immoral" earlier on Tuesday.
"By seriously receiving a Chechen rebel representative, the new US administration shows whose side it really stands by in international efforts against terrorism."
The US has denied any "mediator" role in the meeting, adding that it sees Chechnya as part of the Russian Federation and does not recognize Akhmadov as a "minister."
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