16:51, 2 September 2019

Human rights defenders claim failure of Khasavyurt agreements

A militant in Grozny. Photo by Mikhail Evstafyev, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evstafiev-chechnya-palace-gunman.jpg

Human rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" expressed different opinions concerning who was to be blamed for the disruption of the Khasavyurt agreements signed in 1996 by Alexander Lebed and Aslan Maskhadov. However, according to the human rights defenders, the second Chechen military campaign was inevitable.

The day of August 31 marks the 23rd anniversary of the day when in 1996, Alexander Lebed, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, and Aslan Maskhadov, Chief of Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Chechnya (later President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria), signed the Khasavyurt agreements. However, in August 1999, the Second Chechen War began, which was officially called a counterterrorist operation (CTO).

The Khasavyurt agreements were an "agreement of intentions," noted Alexander Mukomolov, a member of the Presidium of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.
"The main goal of the agreements was to stop the war, and they stopped it," Alexander Mukomolov added.

None of the parties was going to comply with the Khasavyurt agreements, believes Oleg Orlov, the head of the "Hot Spots" programme of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

Russia initially did not intend to comply with the Khasavyurt agreements, said Ruslan Kutaev, the chairman of the international political movement "Assembly of Caucasian Nations".

"It has become the style of the Russian authorities to neglect agreements," Ruslan Kutaev noted.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 1, 2019 at 01:33 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Semyon Charny

Source: CK correspondent