Subject: CHECHNYA: APPEAL
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APPEAL OF RUSSIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS TO THE WORLD COMMUNITY
Moscow, January 5, 1995
Up to the moment the actions of Russian troops in Chechnya have turned into
senseless and severe bloodshed that is not comparable to anything known in
the modern history of our country. There is no need to set forth the
details - they have been covered by mass media of the whole world.
Repeated appeals of public associations and representatives of intellectual
elite of Russia to stop fighting and to turn to looking for political
methods of solving the conflict are left unanswered. Despite severe
condemnation of the Chechen adventure was voiced by most political parties,
practically by all the Russian press and by three-fourths of the population
(according to sociological polls) has not caused any visible corrections in
the Government actions.
Nor Government or President have not apparently been embarrassed by the
fact that among the political figures supporting their Chechen policy,
proved to be only not unknown Vladimir Zhirinovski and a few figures of
this sort from ultra right-wing extremists.
Moreover, the numerous losses of the Russian army during the recent few
days, with the incomparability of the fighting parties taken into account,
are equal to catastrophical military loss - and it has not stopped military
actions. Generals and ministers, as always, are ready to fight up to the
last soldier is dead, not to say about civilians.
Barbaric violence is accompanied with a massive misinformation, rude and
genuine lie about the events going on in Chechnya. At the same time the
authorities try not to prevent or restrain the dissemination of the
trustworthy information and to introduce the censorship in the press, radio
or television.
All of this makes us believe that the Chechen war is only preclusion to the
assault on the freedom and human rights in the Russia as a whole. The crash
of the young Russian democracy and introduction of the authoritarian
military regime would mean the tragedy for all people of this country and a
serious menace to the rest mankind.
All this do not allow to consider the Chechen conflict as an internal issue
of the Russian Federation. When all the possibilities for our voices to be
heard by the own Government are exhausted, we are making an appeal to the
world community, and above all, to human rights and humanitarian public
organizations.
We call on you to get involved, in the very active manner, in the struggle
of the Russian people against the shamed slaughter, created by our
Government in Chechnya. The human rights and anti-war movements have a wide
arsenal of means for such a struggle - ranged from petitions, pickets and
meetings before embassies to the actions of boycott.
Missions to the area of the conflict if undertaken by sufficient number of
independent international monitors who represent authoritative Western
organizations would, undoubtedly, contribute to the stoppage of the most
harsh and massive violations of human rights. We call on you to organize,
as soon as possible, such missions and demand that they are to be let to
Chechnya.
We also appeal to you to use all your influence on political figures and
Government of your countries so that they would use leverage of effective
influence on the President and the Government of Russia. Our general goal
should be immediate and complete stoppage of military actions in Chechnya.
We appeal to the humanitarian organizations and charity foundations.
Hundreds of thousand people of Chechnya and neighboring regions of the
North Caucasus are deprived of shelters. Hundreds of Russian soldiers,
among which there are seriously wounded, are captured by the formation of
General Dudayev. We appeal to you to provide humanitarian aid to all these
people - food, warm clothes, medicines, money. Of course, it international
aid should be transported and distributed under the control of monitors
representing organizations-sponsors.
Our condemnation of the Chechen adventure of the Russian authorities do not
mean that we share this or that political and juridical estimate of the
status of the Chechen Republic and its attitude to the Russian Federation.
The members of our organizations have very different points of view or have
none. Nevertheless, we are unanimous in one: military actions in Chechnya
must be stopped immediately. Otherwise, Russia will have nor the right or
possibility to claim for its place in the community of civilized and
democratic states.
MEMORIAL Society; Moscow Helsinki Group; Soldiers' Mothers Committee;
Moscow Center for Prison Reform; Human rights newspaper
"Express-Chronicle"; The Right to Life and Civil Dignity Society; Helsinki
Civil Assembly; Voters' Club of the Academy of Science; GLASNOST
Foundation; International Non-violence Society; Movement Without Frontiers;
The Society for the Promotion of Human Rights in Central Asia; The Society
for the Promotion of Human Right in Uzbekistan; The Society of Convicted
Businessmen; Informational Human Rights Center (Yekaterinburg);
Coordinating Council for the Assistance to Refugees and Forced Migrants;
Order for Mercy and Social Protection
