RUSSIAN FORCES OPEN FIRE ON STAFF OF PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL IN CHECHNYA…

Yesterday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Russian government of a grave breach of humanitarian law in Chechnya (https://www.hrw.org). International humanitarian law, also known as “the laws of war,” forbids attacks on civilians and civilian objects, such as hospitals, and requires that the sick be respected and protected. Early in the morning of November 1, HRW reported, Russian forces opened fire on the staff of a psychiatric hospital near the village of Samashki, some fifteen miles southwest of Djohar, when they arrived to care for their patients. The hospital’s chief doctor and three other members of the staff were wounded. HRW, which based its report on eyewitness reports gathered by its investigators in Ingushetia, said the incident proved that the Russian government’s claims to be doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties are false. The eyewitnesses said that the hospital was clearly marked with the emblem of the Red Cross, harbored no enemy forces, and was home to some thirty defenseless patients.

As for the financial costs of the Chechen conflict, former Russian Finance Minister Mikhail Zadornov was quoted last week as putting the current monthly costs of the fighting at 3.5-4 billion rubles (US$135-150 million) (Bank of Finland, “Russian and Baltic Economies,” November 19, via Internet). The prominent reformist economist Aleksei Ulyukaev refined Zadornov’s figures, telling the newspaper Izvestia that the campaign is costing Russia about US$152 million a month, and predicting that next year’s federal budget will have to be drastically revised to account for the expenditures (Globe and Mail [Canada], November 22).

…NEW REPORT ON POLICE TORTURE IN RUSSIA.