Parents Of Chechnya-based Russian Soldiers Organize

In the southern Volga Saratov region, parents of soldiers serving with the federal forces in Chechnya have formed a committee to monitor the difficulties that their sons face. According to a March 1 article in Russky kurier, letters written by the soldiers to their parents had convinced the latter “that the conditions of their life in Chechnya are growing more and more burdensome and dangerous”–not just from combat but also from disease. Many of the parents said that their sons were completely disenchanted: “We are prepared to defend Russia from a foreign enemy, but we do not have enemies within Russia.” The new committee hopes to visit Chechnya to inspect the situation firsthand, having concluded, in the newspaper’s words, “that one can no longer put any faith in official reports, which differ too sharply from what the soldiers write in their letters.”