07 February 2004 11:26
Russia names Turkey as source of Chechen fighters
Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Friday that most mercenaries killed or captured in Chechnya were Turks, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported.
Ivanov, who was in Munich for a conference on security, was speaking hours after a suspected suicide bomb killed at least 39 passengers on a Moscow underground train, an attack that Russia's President Vladimir Putin blamed on Chechen rebels.
Ivanov said among those killed or captured since Russia began military operations in Chechnya, there were "mercenaries from about 10 foreign countries, the majority of whom are Turkish citizens".
"These circumstances will inevitably have a negative impact on the development of relations with Turkey," he said.
He also said that the case of a Turkish mercenary who had entered Chechnya from Georgia showed the issue of strengthening Russia's borders with the Caucasus countries was "very acute and a state priority".
But he said the problem should be depoliticised to the greatest possible extent.
[http://gazeta.ru/] |
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