Russia Rejects OSCE Calls For Chechnya Conference
Farhan Siddiqui
MOSCOW, Dec 20, 1999 -- (Reuters) Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov
on Sunday rejected calls by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for an international conference on the
Chechen crisis, Russian news agencies said,
Such proposals "were not viable and were not based on reality," he was
quoted as saying after casting his vote in the election to Russia's
State Duma, the lower house of parliament.
The three-month-old military campaign against Islamic separatists in
Chechnya is supported by most ordinary Russians and has boosted the
ratings of the pro-Kremlin Unity (Yedinstvo) bloc fighting for seats in
the Duma vote.
OSCE Chairman Knut Vollebaek, who visited the breakaway region of
Chechnya earlier this week, urged Russia on Friday to call an immediate
cease-fire in the Chechen capital Grozny and to take part in an
international conference under OSCE auspices.
Vollebaek said the conference should also address the situation of
Ingushetia and Dagestan, regions neighboring Chechnya in the North
Caucasus area which have been affected by the military campaign.
"Why have a conference with the participation of leaders from the North
Caucasus - that is the heads of Dagestan, Ingushetia and North Ossetia -
when they are all members of the Federation Council?" Ivanov said,
referring to Russia's upper house of parliament which is made up of
regional bosses.
Russia has come under mounting Western pressure to call off its assault
against Chechen rebels, which has created a flood of refugees from the
region and trapped an estimated 10,000 to 50,000 civilians in the
besieged and battered city of Grozny.
When asked about the possibility of concrete steps against Russia by
the West in reaction to Chechnya, Ivanov said: "The language of
ultimatums, the language of threats is not the kind of language one can
use when speaking to Russia."
But in a more conciliatory tone which has been echoed by Western
leaders nervous of isolating Moscow, Ivanov said Russia would continue
to work with the outside world.
"Russia will continue to carry out active policies on the international
stage," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Moscow says the campaign, involving up to 100,000 troops fighting a
rebel force only a fraction of the size, is a battle against guerrillas
whom it blames for a series of bomb attacks in Russian cities this year
which killed nearly 300 people.
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