AP World - General News
Putin says laws must be followed during Chechnya operations Tue Feb 25, 2:14 PM ET
By YURI BAGROV, Associated Press Writer
VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia - President Vladimir Putin ( news - web sites) called indirectly Tuesday for an end to abuses by federal forces trying to flush out rebels in Chechnya ( news - web sites), saying laws must not be violated during search operations that have been harshly criticized by civilians and human rights groups.
"You are aware of signals about the violation of laws during various operations" in Chechnya, Putin said during a meeting of his Security Council, in televised comments. "They have been thoroughly investigated and will be investigated in the future."
Critics, however, say that few cases of abuses of civilians during the so-called mopping up operations are prosecuted, and Putin warned against violations during the searches and other operations in Chechnya.
"I want to draw your attention (to the fact) that it is indispensable to meet all provisions of law, relevant government instructions and orders in force," Putin said. He mentioning one he said requires the presence of a prosecutor's office representative during search operations.
The search operations have been widely criticized by civilians and human rights groups that say they are rife with abuses including illegal detentions, rapes and killings of civilians in the war-ravaged republic.
Russian forces pressed ahead with the operations, detaining at least 130 people in the Shali district in southern Chechnya and in and around the capital, Grozny, in the previous 24 hours, an official in the region's Moscow-backed administration said Tuesday.
The administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that four Russian servicemen were killed and four others wounded when federal posts came rebel fire 16 times.
Putin told his Security Council that the number of checkpoints and command posts operated by federal forces in Chechnya should be reduced, saying that their effectiveness is "extremely low." He said checkpoints should remain only where they are needed to provide law and order ( news - Y! TV).
Russian forces pulled out of Chechnya in 1996 after a devastating and unsuccessful 20-month campaign against separatist rebels, leaving the region with de facto independence. They returned in 1999, after rebels launched an incursion into a neighboring republic and after a series of deadly apartment-house bombings that Russia blamed on rebels.
While large-scale battles are rare, fighting persists and Russian soldiers are killed almost every day. In addition to the four killed in rebel attacks on Russian positions, two servicemen died in a clash in the Shali district that also left two rebels dead, and one was killed when a grenade exploded in his hand in Grozny, the administration official said.
A pro-rebel news agency, Kavkaz-tsentr, said Tuesday it had received an e-mail message sent on behalf of Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev that said a group he leads, referred to as Riyadus Salikhiin, was behind the Dec. 27 bombing of the headquarters of the Kremlin-backed government, which killed at least 61 people.
The e-mail contained photographs of the truck bombing and said it was carried out by "a simple Chechen family" — a 43-year-old man, his 17-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter, Kavkaz-tsentr said. Russian officials have blamed the attack on Basayev and an Arab militant, Abu al-Walid.
Separately Tuesday, Putin appointed the former top army commander in Chechnya, Col. Gen. Gennady Troshev, as a presidential adviser and coordinator of the activities of presidential envoys in regulating Cossack communities, many of which are located near Chechnya.
Putin fired Troshev in December after he refused to leave his post in Chechnya when Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov tried to transfer him to Siberia. Troshev was popular among his men, but rights advocates say he tolerated the same abuses Putin spoke out against Tuesday.