29 January 2004 10:42
Russia asks UN to send aid directly to Chechnya, not neighbouring areas
Moscow, 29 January: The Russian Internal Affairs Ministry's Federal Migration Service has asked the UN to send
humanitarian aid mainly directly to Chechnya, rather than to neighbouring republics, Police Colonel Mikhail Tyurkin,
deputy head of the Federal Migration Service, told reporters today.
"Issues relating to the return of refugees to Chechnya, as well as problems of the North Caucasus region as a
whole, were discussed yesterday by Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandr Chekalin and UN Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland," Tyurkin said. Egeland agreed with the arguments made by the Russian side and
promised to review work on providing humanitarian aid to forced refugees.
Tyurkin especially stressed that refugees are returning and will continue to return to Chechnya only of their own
volition. "Before returning, an individual writes a corresponding statement by hand, and thus there can be no talk
of force," Tyurkin said. However, he added that about 15,000 former residents of Chechnya are not planning to
return. "Other options will be offered to them," Tyurkin said.
[passage omitted]
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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