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Russia
Chides U.S. Over Chechen Contacts, Links Berezovsky To Chechens
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| There’s
been renewed Western criticism of Moscow’s drive in
Chechnya |
MOSCOW,
Jan. 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russian FSB security
service chief claimed FSB has documents that link self-exiled
Russian tycoon, Boris Berezovsky, with Chechen independence
activists, as Russia accused the United States of an “unfriendly
step”' after receiving a Chechen envoy, news agencies reported
Friday, January 25.
"This
has to do with financing the guerrilla troops and their
leaders," FSB chief, Nikolai Patrushev, told Russia's NTV
television channel, adding that the FSB would call on its foreign
colleagues to look into the matter.
“We
do indeed have such information, highly documented information. This
deals in particular with the financing of illegal armed groups and
their leaders,” Patrushev said after a meeting in the war- ravaged
region.
One
of the most powerful men in Russia under former president, Boris
Yeltsin, Berezovsky emerged as a bitter opponent of Vladimir Putin
after he succeeded Yeltsin.
Russia
has sparked wide international concern Wednesday when it abruptly
shut down its only nationwide independent television station, TV-6,
owned by Berezovsky.
TV-6
often attacked Putin's military campaign against independence
activists in Chechnya and served as a refuge for many liberal
journalists who fled the NTV channel after it was closed in similar
circumstances last year.
Berezovsky
went into self-imposed exile last year, accusing Putin of conducting
a political vendetta against him because of his critical positions.
Berezovsky
also repeatedly accused the FSB itself of masterminding a series of
deadly bombings in 1999 that had been attributed to Chechen
activists and had fueled popular support for Russia's war against
the breakaway republic of Chechnya.
He
is wanted by the Russian authorities to answer charges of alleged
embezzlement.
Russia,
meanwhile, stepped up a diplomatic offensive Thursday, January 25,
in its long-running campaign against Chechen activists, accusing the
United States of an “unfriendly step”' after receiving a Chechen
envoy, news agencies reported.
It
is Moscow's second broadside in response to renewed Western
criticism of its drive in the rebel region. Moscow has earlier this
week denounced a meeting between a British Foreign Office official
and an envoy of Chechnya's president, Aslan Maskhadov.
The
Russian Foreign Ministry expressed surprise at the Washington
meeting Wednesday between a U.S. State Department official and
Chechen “foreign minister”, Ilyas Akhmadov.
“Such
contacts, no matter what the justification, cannot be seen as
anything other than an unfriendly step toward Russia, contradicting
the spirit of cooperation and partnership of both countries in
acting against international terrorism,” a Russian ministry
statement said.
It
claimed there was increasing proof of links between Chechen
activists, whom Russia has been battling in two post-Soviet
campaigns, and Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda group.
“Linked
to this there is one question; whether the American side is finding
itself in the grip of old stereotypes and continues to divide
terrorists into 'good ones' and 'bad ones,” the statement said.
Moscow
has been engaged since 1999 in its second post-Soviet military
campaign in Chechnya, after two years of fighting ended in 1996 with
an embarrassing withdrawal.
Russian
troops control most of the region on the country's southern flank
and have installed pro-Moscow local authorities. But Chechen freedom
fighters regularly attack army convoys.
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