MOSCOW, Jan 13 (AFP) - The president of Ingushetia on Thursday blasted Russian policy in Chechnya, saying the separation of Chechen males aged 10-60 from their womenfolk equaled the worst excesses of the Stalinist era, when Muslims were persecuted.
Ruslan Aushev, whose Russian Muslim-majority republic borders Chechnya, urged interim Russian President Vladimir Putin to change the policy, warning that the measures would only fuel support for the mujahideen.
Moscow banned all males of potential combat age from entering or leaving Chechnya, following a Chechen counter-attack over the Eid that left dozens of Russian servicemen dead.
Tight security checks and a curfew have been imposed in areas of the republic that have fallen under Russian control.
"Even during the Stalin era, when the Chechens were deported, nobody took it into their heads to do what the Russian military is doing right now," Aushev said.
Aushev has dared raise a rare voice of dissent within Russia over the onslaught in Chechnya, launched ostensibly to wipe out apartment building-bombers allegedly based in the republic.
The Chechens were one of the peoples deported to Central Asia by Stalin during World War II in punishment for their alleged collaboration with the Nazis. The Chechens only returned home after Nikita Khrushchev repealed the order.
Current Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov was born in Kazakhstan in 1951 of parents deported to the Kazakh steppe.
Aushev, whose tiny North Caucasus republic houses the bulk of the more than 200,000 Chechens who have fled the fighting in their homeland, said the new restrictions violated the civilians' human rights.
Ingushetia formally separated from Chechnya 1992 and has state sovereignty in the Russian Federation.
The security crackdown could "push the Chechens into rejoining the fighters in the mountains" in the south of the republic, he said. "They [Chechens] know that sorting centers await them on Russian territory, they went through all that in the first Chechen war," said Aushev, referring to the 1994-96 conflict, which left Grozny with de facto independence.
"I think that this decision by the military is not a good one, because you should strictly respect people's human rights, irrespective of their sex," Aushev told the private NTV television channel earlier.
"The little loyalty [among Chechens towards Moscow] that remains will be destroyed," he warned. "You shouldn't attack civilians when leading the fight against terrorists," said Aushev, who himself holds the rank of general.
The Eid counter-attack by Chechen fighters triggered a fresh refugee exodus, the Ingush leader said, adding that 2,548 people had arrived in Ingushetia in the past 24 hours.
Until the lightning raids, more refugees had been returning to Chechnya than leaving.
