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The
Russian National Committee For the Termination of War and Establishing Peace In
Chechen Republic are applied to the president of the USA George Bush in the eve
of meeting of the western leaders in Genoa where should have been participating
host of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. We publish this appeal without any changes
and reduction.
Mister
George Bush President of the USA
Dear
Mister President!
We
appeal to you and all leaders of participating nations of the Genoa summit of
July 21-22, 2001, to raise the following issue.
As
citizens of the Russian Federation our conscience and sense of responsibility
compel us to draw your attention to the tragic events currently taking place in
the North Caucasus, where witness the daily violation of basic human rights:
life, health, and security. Already
for the 20-month military actions have been taking place in Chechnya and nearby
regions, bringing death and suffering to hundreds of thousands of people.
This is serious threat to the future of the North Caucasian Region as
well as to the democracy in Russia.
Both
sides in the military conflict commit grave violations of Human Rights as well
as international humanitarian law. However, casualties to the civil population
and the material damage. Perpetrated
by the Russian troops are by far the greater.
What is being done in Chechnya is against Russian constitutional law as
well as international treaties cosigned by Russia.
Under
the guise of the officially called “struggle with terrorism” in Chechnya
there was initiated wide- scale military actions aimed at the whole population
of the Republic. That is a
cynical policy turning a military campaign into genocide and inflicting mass
destruction of life and property.
In response to the action of Chechen armed troops the Russian forces
respond by terrorizing the peaceful population by shelling and bombardment of
the settlements and subsequent violence and plunder during
“zachistky” (raids).
Hundreds of corpses have been found showing signs of torture and
execution after being detained by the Russian military. If we are to struggle
with terrorism and establish peace and stability in the region all of this makes
exactly the opposite.
In
the refugees camps on the territory of Ingushetia the situation is absolutely
desperate. Russian authorities
trying to push the refugees back to Chechnya stop the food supply from federal
budget and prevent the incoming of humanitarian help from foreign and
international organizations. Russian
high-ranking military officers threaten military actions in Ingushetia. As
representatives of the Russian public from the committee For Termination of War
and Establishing Peace in Chechen Republic. we realize
that to influence Russian authorities is
primarily the task of Russian
citizens ourselves. But we also believe that the world community should not
observe impartially such a tragedy or limit it to empty declarations.
In
this situation it is absolutely necessary to demand from the Russian Federation
to stop immediately the violence in Chechen Republic.
And really this conflict can be solved only by political measures, which
are not possible without peace talks between the legitimate leadership of
Chechen Republic and Russian Federation. This year at the end of March the
members of the committee For Termination of War and Establishing Peace in
Chechen Republic appealed to President of the Russian Federation V. Putin and
President of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria A. Maskhadov to begin peace talks
immediately and without preconditions. In
May we got positive response from A. Maskhadov but as yet, have not got any
reply from the President of Russia.
We
appeal to you to raise most decisively at the Genoa summit the question of gross
violations of Human Rights in Chechen Republic. We
appeal to you to put before President V. Putin the question of the necessity to
immediately begin peace talks between Russia and Chechen President A. Maskhadov.
We appeal to you to
insist on immediate access of the international observers to the conflict zone
and restoration of the legitimate humanitarian aid to the forced refugees.
You’re
sincerely
On
behalf of the members of the All-Russian National Committee for Termination of
War and Establishing Peace in Chechen Republic
ANNEX:
1.
Copy of the appeal by the Committee for Termination of War and Establishing
Peace in Chechen Republic to President of the Russian Federation V. Putin and
Chechen President Maskhadov.
2.
Copy of the appeal by President A. Maskhadov to the Committee for Termination of
War and Establishing Peace in Chechen Republic.
3.
Information about the Committee for Termination of War and Establishing Peace in
Chechen Republic.
The
Russian National Committee
“ For the termination of
war and establishing peace
in Chechen Republic” was established
in the March of 2001. The main goal
of the committee is holding the
All-Russian campaign for the
termination of war and establishing
peace in Chechen Republic. The establishing
of the committee was
announced in the All-Russian Extraordinary
Congress for Human Rights held in Moscow
in 20-21 January 2001.
Among
the members of the Committee are Deputies of the State Duma of the Russian
Federation Sergey Kovalev, Boris Nadezhdin, Yury Rybakov, Sergey Jushenkov; the
member of the Federal Council of the Russion Federation, the President of the
Republic of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev; the members of the Russian PEN–centre
well-known writers Victor Astafiev, Andrey Bitov, Arkady Vaksberg, Victor
Erofeev, Felix Svedov, Alexander Tkachenko; the member of the Academy of
Sciences of the Russian Federation, the ambassador of the Russian Federation
Yriy Ryzhov; professor of philosophy Lev Gudkov; professor of historical science
Igor Yakovenko; human rights activists: Elena Bonner, the head of the
Sakharov’s Foundation; Ruslan Badalov, the head of the Chechen National
Committee for Salvation; Valery
Borshev, The Moscow Chelsinky Group,
Dmitry Brodskiy, coordinator of the Committee for Antimilitary Activities; Oleg
Orlov, Chief of the Board of the Human Rights Centre “Memorial”; Lev.
Ponomarev, Executive Director of the All-Russian Movement “For Human
Rights”; Yury Samodurov, Director of the Public Centre and Museum named after
Andrey Sakharov; Vyacheslav Pajdoverov, the Deputy of the State Assembly of the
Republic of Mariy El and the Director of the Human Rights Centre
of the Mariy El Republic.
In
February and April of 2001 was held a mass meetings in Moscow in a support
of the official peace talks
between Putin
and Maskhadov.
In 29 of March the Russian National
Committee “ For the termination of war and establishing
peace in Chechen
Republic” appealed to the
President of Russia and Chechen Republic
about immediate beginning of the
official peace talks. In a support of this, started
a wide scale gathering of
signatures under the
appeal of the Russian
citizens.
The
Russian National Committee “ For the termination of war and establishing peace
in Chechen Republic» is leading
popular talks ‘the war in a Chechen
and Russia”. In the Public Centre and Museum named after Andrey
Sakharov was a “Round Table «The Social and psychology consequences the war
in Chechnya».
103009
Moscow tel.(095)291-62-33
M.Kislovsky per. tel/fax (095)202-22-24
h.7
corp.1 office.21e-mail: zpch@online.ru
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