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Excerpts from the JRL E-Mail Community :: Founded and Edited by David Johnson
#25 - JRL 2006-38 - JRL Home
Putin Lays Down Conditions for Dialogue With Chechen Opposition

MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax) - A bill amnestying representatives of the Chechen opposition who have not been involved in assassinations or other crimes should be adopted, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Should we decide to negotiate with them, an amnesty should be held. Society, through its representative in parliament, should pass such a decision and it should not be held backstage in order to avoid claims being made to the political leadership afterwards," Putin told the Spanish media.

"Yes, we should hold dialog with them. We can't do without it. We should engage them in normal life, otherwise they will be cut off from this process. People abandoning of extreme forms of fighting and becoming involved in the political fight and in political work is a big plus," he said.

However, "no civilized state allows itself such a luxury as talks with terrorists, because any talks with terrorists weaken the state and give strength to the terrorists," he said.

"However, if this or that structure has laid down arms and declared that it is determined to refrain from all aspects of the military struggle with the leadership and the state, then it deserves dialog," he said.