Demanding
Talks with Terrorists Double Standard
MOSCOW
(RIA Novosti) – To demand that Russia should conduct "peaceful
negotiations" with terrorists is to cultivate double standards
in the fight against terrorism, Russia’s ambassador to Belgium,
Vadim Lukov, wrote in his article "Whom Does Chechnya Support?"
published in the Belgian newspaper De Tijd on January 19.
"It turns
out that with some terrorists, such as Osama bin Laden and Abu
Zarkaui, negotiations are impossible, while with others [Maskhadov,
for example] they are not only possible but even necessary! What
is the difference between Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev,
whom the U.S. State Department has included on the list of international
terrorists?" Mr. Lukov wrote.
He noted that
"the calls addressed to Moscow to start a political settlement
in Chechnya are obviously too late," because "the main
political steps towards peace in Chechnya have already been taken."
Mr. Lukov
names the Constitution of the Republic, adopted at the referendum,
the presidential elections and the preparations for the parliamentary
elections as part of those steps.
"Those
who ignore all these basic facts of a peaceful settlement in Chechnya
expose themselves as supporters of only one variant of ‘settlement’:
that of the repetition of terrorists’ power on the Chechen land,"
he underscored.
According
Mr. Lukov, the European public should clearly understand that
support of the Chechen terrorists does not at all contribute to
the stabilization of the situation in Chechnya but, on the contrary,
"inspires and encourages those who, under the pretext of
‘fighting for the independence of Chechnya,’ would like to use
common Chechens as ‘cannon fodder’ in combinations of international
terrorism."