UN backs Chechen president

Russia sent its forces back into Chechnya two years ago

By BBC Russian affairs analyst Stephen Dalziel

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers says Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov is a key figure for resolving the conflict in Chechnya - and should not be regarded as a terrorist.

Mr Lubbers was speaking in Moscow at the end a visit to Russia, during which he went to see Chechen refugees in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia.

The Russian authorities recognised Mr Maskhadov as the legitimate authority in Chechnya when he was elected president in 1997.

After the humiliation of seeing their forces defeated by the Chechen rebels, Mr Maskhadov seemed to represent an acceptable compromise for Moscow.

Western confusion

But in 1999, the Kremlin accused Mr Maskhadov of having lost control of the situation in Chechnya. After attacks by Chechen rebels in the neighbouring republic of Dagestan, and then a series of bomb attacks on apartment blocks in Moscow and Volgodonsk, Russian forces were sent back in to Chechnya.

Russia calls Maskhadov and his supporters "terrorists"

When Mr Maskhadov called for resistance, Moscow withdrew its recognition of his authority, branding him and his supporters "terrorists".

The West's attitude to the conflict in Chechnya has become confused since the 11 September attacks on the US. Russia's argument that it is part of the wider struggle against terrorism has largely been accepted.

But Mr Lubbers' visit to refugee camps in Ingushetia was designed as much to show Moscow that the world hasn't forgotten about Chechnya, as to illustrate this point to the refugees themselves.

By stating that Mr Maskhadov is a key figure in the search for a resolution to the conflict, Mr Lubbers is also underlining that, if Chechnya is part of the wider fight against terrorism, then the Kremlin should listen, too, to those who are engaged in that struggle elsewhere.