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US defies Russian warning
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THE United States on Wednesday dismissed warnings from Russia over a meeting between a senior US diplomat and a Chechen separatist leader.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington would go ahead with a meeting with self-styled Chechen “foreign minister” Ilyas Akhmadov despite Russia's complaint about it.
Akhmadov is expected to see John Beyrle, US State Department's Acting Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Newly Independent States, Boucher said.
Earlier on Wednesday in Moscow, top Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky slammed the meeting, calling it “absolutely unacceptable” and saying it would have a “negative effect” on US-Russian relations.
“They can be interpreted in Chechen terrorist and separatist circles only as a signal that will encourage their actions,” he said.
Also on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Kremlin said that if reports that the US administration would meet the Chechen rebels are confirmed, “Moscow's reaction will be harsh.”
The Russian withdrawal from Chechnya five years ago ripened the rebel province for nationalists and religious radicals, much like today's Kosovo, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published yesterday.
“Our main goal was to prevent (Chechnya) from becoming a base for launching attacks against Russia and neighbouring territories. However, when we withdrew, it turned into exactly that,” Putin told reporters from four daily newspapers.
“We know well the forces that filled up the vacuum we left. Those were radicals of all sorts, including nationalists and religious bigots,” Putin added.
“And that is exactly the same thing as is happening in Kosovo today. They even deploy heavy military machines there, after criticizing us for using them (in Chechnya).”
However, Putin assured reporters that, unlike the Balkans where separatist ethnic Albanians wage battle against Macedonian security forces, Chechnya is largely under Russian control.(Xinhua-Agencies)
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