STRASBOURG, March 14 (News Agencies) - Russian officials have agreed in principle to allow international experts to oversee the distribution of humanitarian aid in Chechnya, the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner said Wednesday.
Alvaro Gil-Robles, who was speaking to reporters after a recent trip to Moscow and Chechnya, said that Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov had agreed to the deal, as did the U.N. refugee agency's representative in Moscow.
"We don't think that we can send money, which can be embezzled, but rather will send building materials which would be handed out under the supervision of financial experts and international controllers, so that humanitarian aid reaches its rightful destination," Gil-Robles said.
The human rights commissioner said the aid was primarily destined for Chechen civilians, whose homeland has been completely destroyed after a Russian offensive in the breakaway Caucasus republic.
Gil-Robles's trip to Moscow and Chechnya, from February 25th to March 4th, was his third to the war-torn republic in 18 months.
He said he used the opportunity to examine the security situation in the area, as well as the actions of Russian forces, whom he said acted with quasi-impunity.
