BRIEFS

— GUARDS REMOVED AT DISPLACED PERSONS’ CAMPS

Kavkazky Uzel reported on July 5 that guards had been removed from around temporary settlements for displaced people in Chechnya because of a lack of funds. Residents of the settlements are concerned about this. “We had serious problems even when we had the guards,” Masud, a resident of a temporary settlement in Grozny’s Staropromyslovsky district, told the website. “Now that we don’t, the situation would get worse and become more dangerous. The people are seriously worried by this. They are afraid that the number of ‘sweeps’, checks, other unsanctioned measures and domestic crimes will increase. According to the refugees, the authorities are doing this on purpose so as to make them leave the temporary settlements as soon as possible.” A Chechen migration service official told Kavkazky Uzel that his office urged the occupants of the settlements to recruit their own guards and offered to pay them 2,000 rubles (about $69) each per month, but that they refused.

— REBELS SEE ALLY IN TAIWAN

Chinese President Hu Jintao said he and President Vladimir Putin discussed such important issues as Taiwan and Chechnya during their July 1 talks in Moscow, Itar-Tass reported. “The parties boosted mutual support in such issues as the Taiwan and Chechen issues, which concern our vital interests,” Hu said during a news conference after the talks. Noting the meeting between the Russian and Chinese leaders, and the increasingly close relations between their two governments, the Chechen separatist Kavkazcenter website commented on July 5: “The Chechens in such a geopolitical alignment will have to promptly normalize relations with its unexpected strategic ally, Taiwan, and prepare for war against China.”