MOSCOW, May 23 (News Agencies) - Russian President Vladimir Putin's human rights envoy for Chechnya on Wednesday rejected claims by an international human rights watchdog that federal troops had committed atrocities in the breakaway republic.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Russia on Tuesday of blocking an investigation into the discovery last February of a mass grave containing 51 bodies near a federal army base in Chechnya.
Putin's envoy, Vladimir Kalamanov, accused HRW of raising the allegations simply to cast a shadow over a three-day visit to Moscow by the head of the Council of Europe, Walter Schwimmer, who arrived Wednesday.
Human Rights Watch "does not understand anything about these questions, and is content to make allegations unconnected to how these issues are being tackled or whether progress has been made in this area," Kalamanov told Moscow Echo radio.
He added that the question of mass graves and missing people in Chechnya would "be discussed openly" in his meeting with Schwimmer on Thursday.
Schwimmer, who met Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov Wednesday, said that "some progress" had been achieved in Moscow's search for a political solution to the 20-month Chechen conflict.
But he said the Chechen issue would not dominate his talks with Russian leaders, which would instead focus on Russia's participation in the 43-nation Council of Europe and the country's role "in the political structure of Europe."
In statement released after the meeting, the Russian foreign ministry said Schwimmer and Ivanov were pleased "with the cooperation between Russia and the Council of Europe, particularly over the strengthening of democracy in the north Caucasus."
The two also said they would work towards Yugoslavia's and Bosnia-Herzegovina's accession to the organization, the Russian statement said.
As well as meeting Klamanov on Thursday, Schwimmer will also hold talks with parliamentary leaders, Russia's chief prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov, and on Friday he is to meet with Justice Minister Yuri Chaika.
Several European leaders have condemned Russia's human rights record in the separatist province, with Moscow briefly losing its voice on the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly as a result.
