BALTIC STATES CONDEMN KILLING

Deputies in the parliaments of Estonia and Lithuania condemned the killing of Aslan Maskhadov. Andres Herkel, a member of the Pro Patria Union party, said that in eliminating the rebel leader, “Russia lost the last hope for resolving the conflict in Chechnya by peaceful means,” Rosbalt reported on March 9. Herkel, who is also heads the “For Human Rights in Chechnya” group in Estonia’s parliament, which has called on Russia to negotiate with Maskhadov, said that the slain rebel leader was Chechnya’s “national leader” and that his murder was on par with the assassinations of Chechen leader Djokhar Dudaev in 1996 and former acting president Zelimkhan Yandarbiev in Qatar in February 2004. Protesters calling for Chechnya’s independence picketed the Russian embassy in Tallinn on March 9.

Rasa Jukneviciene of Lithuania’s Conservatie Party said that Maskhadov’s murder is evidence of the “legitimization of terrorism on the state level in Russia” and “evokes horror,” Rosbalt reported on March 9.