Pro-Moscow Chechen Chief Warns International Agencies
MOSCOW, April 14 (News Agencies) - The head of the pro-Moscow administration in Chechnya Wednesday warned international humanitarian organizations that they could no longer continue to work freely in the secessionist republic.
"The Chechen authorities will no longer authorize humanitarian organizations to operate freely," Akhmad Kadyrov said, cited by Interfax news agency.
He accused unnamed humanitarian aid agencies of "speculating about the problems of Chechnya under the pretext of helping refugees."
The Russian military and Chechen forces loyal to Moscow often complain that international charities operating in war-torn Chechnya do not keep them informed of their movements.
After the kidnapping in January in Chechnya of U.S. aid worker Kenny Gluck, who was freed on February 4th, Russian officials accused his employer, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders, MSF), of failing to liaise sufficiently with the military.
Kadyrov's warning could lead to further restrictions being clamped on the few international humanitarian organizations still active in Chechnya, where Moscow poured troops in October 1999 in self-declared "anti-terrorist" operation.
