Civil society and problems of Chechnya

Participants in the All-Russian Conference of Civil Society Organizations that took place in Moscow on October 26-28 have published their resume. The statement reads in particular: "Military operations are still going on in Chechnya. Plain civilians are suffering from them. The methods of using force chosen by the country's leadership for the Northern Caucasus have turned today's Chechen campaign into a crime entailing mass victims...

We establish that an antiwar movement has appeared or, rather, reappeared in Russia for the last two years. It is better to call it an all-Russian movement for observance of human rights in the Chechen Republic and settlement of the armed conflict by political means. Non-government civil society organizations working in various fields in many Russian regions have joined in this activity."