Washington Post

Tuesday, February 1, 2000

Albright Assails Russia for 'Misery' Inflicted on Chechens

By Daniel Williams

MOSCOW, Jan. 31 -- Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright took Russia to task today for inflicting "misery" on civilians in Chechnya, warning that Moscow faced international isolation over its war against separatist rebels in the southern region.

Albright met with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov for six hours in preparation for a meeting scheduled Wednesday with acting President Vladimir Putin. Her trip to Moscow was billed in part as an exercise in sizing up Putin, the heavy favorite to win the March 26 presidential election to choose a successor to Boris Yeltsin, who stepped down Dec. 31.

"We have made quite clear that we think there has been an incredible amount of misery injected upon the civilian population of Chechnya, both militarily and because of the creation of so many refugees," Albright said at a news conference with Ivanov. "The humanitarian situation is very bad . . . and there has been excessive force used."

Albright said she accepted the Russian position that the war is a necessary battle against terrorism, although a senior U.S. official said evidence that Chechens were responsible for a series of deadly bombings of apartment buildings in Moscow and other Russian cities last year was "inconclusive." Russia has cited those bombings as part of its justification for its five-month offensive against Islamic rebels in Chechnya.

Ivanov brushed aside Albright's warning that Russia was isolated, but added, "In any case, if there is a degree of isolation, it is temporary."

U.S. relations with Russia have been deteriorating since the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia last spring, which Russia criticized as an illegal aggression on a defenseless state. Russia also has objected to the Clinton administration's moves toward building a missile-defense system, saying it would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the two countries.

Albright reiterated the U.S. proposal to amend the treaty to make it possible for both countries "to answer growing missile threats from unpredictable third countries." But, Albright acknowledged, "It is not easy to come to a common ground on this."

Ivanov suggested there were other ways to fight missile threats. He characterized the ABM treaty as an important foundation to decades of arms control agreements.

He repeated the Putin government's support for ratification in the lower house of parliament of the START II nuclear arms reduction pact, which has been blocked by Communists and nationalists in the State Duma. He gave no timetable for possible ratification of the treaty, which was signed in 1993.

Despite the disputes on Chechnya and anti-missile policy, a senior State Department official said that progress was made on persuading Russia to reopen contacts with NATO, which were suspended last March after the alliance began to bomb Yugoslavia over the conflict in the province of Kosovo.

The State Department official said that Ivanov, who plans to travel to North Korea, "could be helpful" in forestalling development of ballistic missiles by the North Korean government.

The Clinton administration acceded to a Russian request to hold a meeting of Middle Eastern countries, part of the complex of long-stalled conversations between Israel and Arab states on economic, water and environmental issues.

The moves were examples, the State Department official said, of the usefulness of dealing constructively with Russia, even while criticizing the assault on Chechnya. "This is the world's business," he said.

Meanwhile, Russia claimed to be closing in today on central districts of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, including strategic Minutka Square. Such claims have been made for most of the past month. The Russian storming of the city has taken longer than expected, with rising casualties among Russian troops.

Russian officials said 250 rebels have surrendered in Grozny, although a pro-Russian Chechen parliamentary deputy said the reports are false.

Getting accurate information from Chechnya has become increasingly difficult. The Russians continue to detain a reporter for Radio Liberty, Andrei Babitsky, inside Chechnya for having worked behind Chechen lines. He has been held incommunicado for several days in the Russian-occupied town of Urus-Martan. Ivanov said an official from the chief prosecutor's office is looking into Babitsky's case.

Ivanov added that no foreign reporter had been denied credentials to cover the war, even though the Defense Ministry has blocked scores of news organizations from receiving credentials that would permit them to work in Chechnya. Albright said journalists ought to be allowed to "cover what is going on."

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