USTINOV SAYS MASS EXECUTIONERS ARE CHECHENS.

On July 10, it was reported that Lord Judd of PACE had arrived in Moscow for meetings of the joint Duma-PACE working group on Chechnya. Judd and the leader of the Duma delegation, Dmitry Rogozin, were scheduled to have talks at the Russian Procurator General’s office, the Ministry of Defense, and the Supreme Court. They were also to meet with the Russian minister for the affairs of Chechnya, Vladimir Elagin, and with human rights leaders (Council of Europe press service, July 10). During the meeting with Procurator General Vladimir Ustinov on July 11, Judd “once again began to speak about coarse infringements of human rights in Chechnya. From what was said by Lord Judd it followed that Russian soldiers are participating in mass executions of peaceful residents but that the employees of the procuracy are not bringing the investigation of such cases to conclusion.” Concerning such mass executions, Ustinov riposted that “they were, most likely, the work of rebels who had dressed themselves up as [Russian] military” (Gazeta.ru, July 11).