PUTIN SPEAKS OUT ON DEPORTATION ANNIVERSARY.

Publication: North Caucasus Weekly Volume: 2 Issue: 10

On February 23, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, sent telegrams to the president of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, and the pro-Moscow head of administration of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, on the occasion of the fifty-seventh anniversary of the deportation of the Ingush and Chechen peoples. Putin offered his “heartfelt sympathy” to the victims of Stalin’s deportations, adding that, “These crimes can never be justified” (Agence France Presse, February 23; Nezavisimaya Gazeta, February 24).