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TITLE: Liberal Russian Politican Briefs Putin on Chechen Negotiations |
AUTHOR: |
PUB: AFP |
DATE: December 26, 2000 |
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A leading Russian liberal politician Boris Nemtsov briefed President Vladimir Putin late Tuesday about the results of his recent negotiations with pro-independence Chechens, he told RIA-Novosti. Nemtsov, head of the liberal Union of Rightist Forces (SPS), told the news agency he had met the president privately for half an hour after a session in the Kremlin between Putin and all political party leaders."The president's response was completely normal," said Nemtsov. The Kremlin could not be reached for comment. The politician, a former deputy prime minister, led a Russian parliamentary delegation which signed a five-point declaration with Chechen separatist deputies at a meeting in neighbouring Ingushetia earlier this month. The Kremlin spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Tuesday distanced the government from that meeting, saying it had taken place "without the knowledge or approval" of the Putin administration. But Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper claimed Tuesday that Putin had in fact given it his backing. On Monday the Russian president said in a nationwide television broadcast he was not totally opposed to contacts with Chechen secessionists, although only he would take any final decisions. A day later leading Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that Russia has realised the mistakes it has made in Chechnya and is preparing for covert talks with rebel leaders. However that was denied by Yastrzhembsky, who said: "there have been no attempts by the federal government to make contact with (breakaway Chechen president Aslan) Maskhadov's entourage for more than half a year." The secessionist Chechen president has not been recognised by Moscow since intervention by Russian troops in 1999. The Izvestia report said that "the inability of the military to manage the situation has become a decisive factor in launching a process of covert negotiations with the separatists." More than 14 months after Russia launched a military crackdown in Chechnya on October 1, 1999, skirmishes between separatist rebels and federal troops continue on a daily basis. END |