Russian Atrocities in ChechnyaRobert G. Kaiser and Masha Lipman both wrote about the emergence of a new, bold, pro-Western President Vladimir Putin [op-ed, Nov. 10]. But neither mentions the one factor that should serve to restrain the new U.S.-Russian relationship: Russia's brutal war in Chechnya.
Even before the attacks of Sept. 11, Putin had made blanket references to the Chechen rebels fighting in the breakaway republic as "terrorists" with links to Osama bin Laden. After the Sept. 11 attacks he compared the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism to Russia's actions in Chechnya.
Russian government forces, however, have failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians and refused to comply with the most basic standards of international human rights and humanitarian law. Recent Human Rights Watch field research found evidence of extrajudicial executions, torture, forced disappearance and arbitrary detention.
As Russian forces continue to commit atrocities in Chechnya, the risk is that the United States -- with its unprecedented military cooperation with Russia -- may become associated with the abuses. President Bush should use the Crawford, Tex., summit to condemn these violations and to remind President Putin that the struggle against terrorism must remain within the framework ofinternational law.
DIEDERIK LOHMAN
Moscow
The writer is director of the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch.
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