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#9 - JRL 9083 - JRL Home
From: Peace in Chechnya (acpc@peaceinchechnya.org)
Sent: Tue 3/8/2005
Subject: ACPC Condemns Killing of Aslan Maskhadov

ACPC Condemns Killing of Aslan Maskhadov
Washington, DC: March 8, 2005 5:00 p.m. EDT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael J. Bradow, Tel. 202.364.2466

The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) condemns in the strongest terms the killing of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov.

According to statements by the Russian Defense Ministry, Aslan Maskhadov was killed on March 8 by Russian military personnel after they had surrounded a bunker containing Maskhadov and his close associates in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt, located 21 miles north of Grozny. Russian state TV has broadcast images of a body believed to be Aslan Maskhadov, which awaits independent verification.

Among the Maskhadov government’s Western emissaries, no statements have been released that indicate confirmation of Maskhadov’s death. According to interviews with Maskhadov’s special envoy to Europe, Akhmed Zakayev, no verification has been received, although Zakayev believes the reports to be true.

From 1997-1999, Maskhadov served as Chechnya’s only democratically elected President. Throughout the past six years of Russia’s second war in Chechnya, Maskhadov led a resistance movement opposed to the Kremlin and has repeatedly called for peace talks on ending the war. Most recently, Maskhadov declared a three week cease-fire in February that was largely observed by resistance forces.

The Kremlin has continually refused to negotiate a settlement to the second Chechen war. With Maskhadov’s death, President Putin has now eliminated a major interlocutor for peace. ACPC Co-Chairman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, stated, “The killing of Maskhadov is Putin’s answer to proposals for a peaceful end to the conflict. It has left Chechnya bereft of moderate leaders.” Brzezinski added, “The deliberate policy of killing moderates is a self-defeating policy.”

Maskhadov’s death, while a symbolic defeat for the Chechen resistance, is not likely to change the current situation on the ground. ACPC Executive Director, Glen Howard, noted, “After Maskhadov, the only opposition force to Russian policy in Chechnya is the Russian Soldiers’ Mothers Committee.” On February 24-25, representatives of the Union of Committee’s of Soldiers’ Mothers met in London with Akhmed Zakayev for a successful round of peace talks. “Russia has unequivocally demonstrated its rejection of a peaceful solution in Chechnya by eliminating one of its few, and maybe last, viable partners for peace,” said Howard.

Zbigniew Brzezinski concluded, “The Chechens now have a symbol of resistance that will further fortify their determination to be free.”

Founded in 1999, the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) is a bipartisan coalition of distinguished Americans dedicated to promoting a peaceful end to the war in Chechnya.