WASHINGTON WILL NOT MEET WITH AKHMADOV.

On May 31, NTV.ru reported that “representatives of the American administration ‘have not met and do not plan to meet’ with the so-called minister of foreign affairs of Chechnya, Il’yas Akhmadov, who is currently present in Washington. An official of the State Department, who wished to remain anonymous, communicated this on May 30. As far as is known, the Chechen emissary arrived in the American capital on the eve of the first official visit of President George Bush to Russia, which took place last week. The attempts of Akhmadov to achieve a conversation with representatives of the foreign policy agency [the State Department] of the United States were not crowned with success.”