Groznyy, 8 May: The chairman of the Chechen electoral commission, Ismail Baykhanov, has advised prominent public figures in Great Britain to pay attention to gross violations of human rights in Iraq.

"Any effort by public figures to protect civil rights is commendable, but it is difficult to understand the logic of those who do not see what their soldiers are doing in Iraq but instead are trying to give advice to the leadership of another country," Baykhanov told Interfax on Tuesday (8 May).

On Monday (7 May) the Independent newspaper published an open letter from British political and public figures urging the Russian president to use his remaining time in office to "restore peace and order" in Chechnya.

Commenting on the letter, Baykhanov said: "I, as well as thousands of my fellow citizens, cannot understand why the public in England and other EU countries (as received) are not concerned about the fate of the Iraqi people and the fate of their soldiers and why they are silently watching the destruction of the state and historical monuments there".

"In Iraq, the blood of hundreds of people is being shed every day. Women, children and elderly are dying. Coalition soldiers, sent there allegedly in order to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Husayn's regime, are dying too. No-one has seen those weapons, but hundreds of thousands have died. The structure of the country has been destroyed," the chairman of the Chechen electoral commission said. (Passage omitted)

"In Chechnya, there are fewer violations of civil rights than in any other region of the country, and no more than in the countries of western Europe," he noted. (Passage omitted)

"The calls to stop the war look ridiculous, because you cannot stop something that does not exist. They are too late," Baykhanov said.