Kazantsev: Ball Is Now in Rebels' Court - Moscow TimesKazantsev, left, and Kadyrov talking to reporters Monday about the Chechen talks held a day earlier at Sheremetyevo Airport.
Groundbreaking weekend talks aimed at ending hostilities in Chechnya did not lead to any breakthrough and now it is up to the rebels to make the next move, presidential envoy Viktor Kazantsev said Monday.
Kazantsev met Sunday with a representative of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov for the first face-to-face talks between Moscow and the rebels since the current conflict erupted in Chechnya two years ago.
Kazantsev and Maskhadov's representative, Akhmed Zakayev, spoke for 2 1/2 hours in a VIP lounge at Sheremetyevo Airport's Terminal 2.
However, Zakayev's proposals for peace sounded "more like slogans," Kazantsev said.
"It looks like they have intentions and there is a desire, but whenever it comes to practical issues, they are not ready," Kazantsev said at a news conference. "On such a theoretical level, there is no sense in holding further meetings."
He said that a resumption of talks depended on the rebels coming to the table with "practical answers" to a call by President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 24 for them to lay down their arms.
Zakayev, who flew in from Istanbul with Turkish politician Besim Tibuk for the meeting, said upon his return home that he was heartened by the talks.
"We were very happy with the meeting. We believe the talks will continue and end positively," Zakayev said.
He said the meeting had addressed a cessation of hostilities and a peaceful political settlement. It was unclear Monday whether the most controversial issue -- disarmament -- was even broached.
"There was not such an issue on the agenda," Zakayev told the Turkish Turan news agency.
However, Kazantsev made it clear Monday that he expects the rebels to offer to lay down their arms. He said Russia would begin to pull out troops from Chechnya once serious peace talks start, but acknowledged that Maskhadov was facing pressure from rebel warlords such as Shamil Basayev and Jordanian-born Khattab, whom he called international terrorists.
Akhmad Kadyrov, head of the Moscow-appointed Chechen administration, said the meeting Sunday would do little for peace because Maskhadov had no control of the rebels.
"Basayev has never been of lower rank than Maskhadov ... they have no coordination," Kadyrov said at the same news conference.
"Maskhadov represents three to four people who move him from place to place to hide," he said.
Former spymaster Nikolai Kovalyov, a once-time head of FSB predecessor the Federal Security Committee who now serves as a State Duma deputy, also expressed skepticism.
There were "more than enough of these kind of meetings in the mid-1990s, and they all finished with zero results," he told Interfax. "We must not get too excited about the talks."
In Nazran, Ingush President Ruslan Aushev said news of the talks had boosted the spirits of the tens of thousands of Chechen refugees camped in Ingushetia. "They are waiting for the meeting to become the start of a peace settlement for Chechnya that will make it possible for them to go back to the republic," he told Interfax.
A number of Russian politicians welcomed the meeting.
Said Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov: "We can only welcome the possibility of an agreement being reached for [the rebels] to lay down their weapons and to start living peacefully."
"Zakayev is probably a figure who could maintain a political dialogue and he represents a group that the current bandit formations in Chechnya listen to," he told reporters.
Sergei Yushenkov, the deputy head of the Duma's security committee, said Kazantsev's participation signaled that the Kremlin no longer considered Maskhadov a terrorist.
"It is well-known that negotiations are not conducted with terrorists, so such a meeting means that the federal authorities are indirectly acknowledging that Maskhadov and his associates like Zakayev do not have direct links to terrorism," Yushenkov said.
He said that the next stage of talks must be conducted "at a higher level -- between Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and Maskhadov" – and a special commission must be set up of Moscow, Grozny and international representatives to nurture discussions.
Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, also applauded the talks, telling reporters that President George W. Bush had reiterated to Putin during a three-day U.S. summit last week that the United States wanted peace discussions over Chechnya.
Tibuk, who accompanied Zakayev to Moscow, said he had high hopes that peace would be found.
"I was talking with the Chechens for a very long time, saying they should talk to the Russians to end this war," Tibuk, chairman of the Turkish Liberal Democratic Party, said by telephone from Istanbul. "After the meeting in Moscow, Kazantsev thanked me for facilitating the talks."
"I was very much impressed by Kazantsev -- he is a real statesman," he added. "I could see that he had a very positive approach to the meeting."
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