Maskhadov, Chechen former elected president facing undecided future in the absence of a free presidential polls

MOSCOW, October 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Chechen elected president Aslan Maskhadov in an interview published Thursday, October 2, dismissed Kremlin-organized presidential elections this weekend as illegitimate and vowed to continue resistance until Russian ‘occupying troops’ leave the republic.

Maskhadov, who was elected in January 1997 as Chechen president in a poll recognized internationally after Moscow's defeat in 1994-96 war of independence, has led resistance since Russian troops re-occupied Chechnya in October 1999, Agence France Press (AFP) reported.

"I am the democratically elected president of the Chechen republic. My main constitutional duty is to defend the sovereignty of our nation," Maskadov said in an interview published Thursday by the Novaya Gazeta bi-weekly newspaper.

"Armed resistance in Chechnya will end only when the occupiers leave," he added.

The pro-Moscow chief administrator of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, is expected to win the election on Sunday, October 5, after all his serious rivals either dropped out or were barred from the race.

Although he is widely unpopular, the Kremlin is determined to have its handpicked man in the occupied southern republic confirmed in office and to quash Maskahadov's legitimacy.

A leading Russian opposition politician Wednesday, October 1, denounced as "a farce" the Moscow-sponsored presidential election in the troubled southern republic of Chechnya, saying electors had been given no choice.

Media reports said last month that the Kremlin had rigged the race for the sake of Kadyrov after four front-runners had mysteriously withdrawn or been ejected from Chechnya's troubled election, leaving Kadyrov as the almost certain winner.

Chechen lawmakers have repudiated claims by pro-Moscow parliament deputy speaker Issa Temirov that they have signed a petition to overthrow Aslan Maskhadov from his post as president of Chechnya.

The presidential election campaign started officially Friday, September 5, amid controversy and cries of foul play.

International organizations including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have also declined to send observers to the troubled poll.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities have closed down a Chechen refugee camp in southern Russia, just days ahead of presidential elections in war-torn Chechnya, a human rights group said Wednesday.

"They closed down Bella today," Ruslan Zhadayev from the Chechen Committee for National Salvation said adding that by Tuesday just two tents were left in the camp in Ingushetia, a Russian republic bordering Chechnya.

Fifty-three families had been moved to another Ingush refugee camp, but were obliged to sign a document saying they agreed to return to Chechnya or be deprived of food hand-outs, Zhadayev said.

Bella had a refugee population of 1,000.

Pro-Russian authorities in Chechnya have announced on several occasions that the tent cities in Ingushetia, which house some 10,000 refugees who fled the war launched by Russian troops in their homeland in 1999, will be closed by October1.

Relief agencies have voiced concern that this could mean a forced return of refugees by the Russian authorities.

Moscow is anxious to have the camps empty by October 5, when a Kremlin-organized presidential election is due to take place in the Caucasus republic.

"The military wanted to cross the Ts and dot the Is," said the human rights activist.

Russia is presenting the election as proof that its four-year war with Chechens is over.