BRIEFS

–REBELS AND FEDS EXCHANGE FIRE

Citing the Chechen Interior Ministry, Interfax on June 26 reported that rebels had attacked policemen across the republic. According to the news agency, armed men broke into the home of police officer Aslanbek Asuev in Shatoi district village of Yukerch-Keloi, seizing his weapon and kidnapping his brother Aslan. In Grozny’s Leninsky district, unidentified attackers opened fire on the car of Chechen Interior Ministry employee Ayub Kitaev, who escaped unharmed. In the Shelkovsky district village of Kargalinskaya, armed men broke into the house of a police officer, beating him up and stealing his weapon and documents. Also citing a Chechen Interior Ministry source, Prague Watchdog reported on June 27 that two Russian conscripts were killed and another wounded when a truck carrying troops was blown up near the village of Chechen-Aul. Meanwhile, a group of armed people believed to be kadyrovtsy abducted two residents of Grozny’s Leninsky district, identified as Abdula Bachaev and Ayub Takaev.

–KOSACHEV: NO “MODERATE SEPARATISTS”

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee and head of Russia’s delegation at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), said on June 27 that only people who agree with the principle of Russia’s territorial integrity can participate in future PACE roundtables on Chechnya, Interfax reports. “The criteria for taking part in the ‘roundtables’ have been determined by the assembly itself – they are people who have renounced terrorism and people who accept the principle of Russia’s territorial integrity,” Kosachev told a Moscow news conference. He also ruled out the possible participation of “moderate separatists,” saying that the term “moderate separatism is not always understandable.” Itar-Tass quoted Kosachev as saying that the Russian delegation is suggesting the next roundtable on Chechnya be held in Grozny. He said the dates for the next session would depend upon exactly when Chechnya’s parliamentary elections will be held, and thus would probably not take place before September.

–SIGNING OF POWERS DELIMITATION TREATY POSTPONED

Itar-Tass reported on June 28 that the signing of a treaty delimiting powers between Chechnya and the federal center, which was supposed to take place before June 15, has been postponed indefinitely. The agency quoted Fedor Shcherbakov, press secretary to Dmitry Kozak, the Russian president’s envoy to the Southern Federal District, as saying that the draft of the treaty had met serious criticism from Russian officials. He did not, however, provided details about their objections. Muslim Khuchiev, a spokesman for Chechen President Alu Alkhanov, confirmed news of the postponement.

–PRO-MOSCOW OFFICIAL: A HALF MILLION CHECHENS DEAD OR MISSING

Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Dukhvakha Abdurakhmanov told refugees from the village Borozdinovskaya district that 300,000 people have died and more than 200,000 have gone missing in Chechnya during the last ten years, Interfax reported. Speaking to the refugees in Dagestan’s Kizlyar district on June 26, Abdurakhmanov said that they had lost 11 of their people during a June 4 zachistka “whereas each person in Chechnya has dozens of relatives dead or missing.”