Eight found murdered in Chechnya

Much of Grozny has been ruined in the fighting

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russia says eight civilians have been found murdered in Chechnya in an attack being blamed on separatist rebels.

Russian news agencies said the bodies of six Russians and two Chechens were found close together in the capital Grozny. They had suffered gunshot and knife wounds.

An unspecified number of Chechens have been held in connection with the killings, according to regional anti-terrorist forces.

The murders of several Russian civilians in Chechnya have been reported in recent weeks.

Security officials claim the attacks are an attempt by separatist rebels to scupper Russian efforts to restore order and stability to a region devastated by two bloody wars since 1994.

However, the reports follow international criticism of alleged human rights abuses by Russian soldiers in the breakaway republic.

The Russian human rights group Memorial said the bodies of 80 Chechen civilians were found last month near a military base outside Grozny. It claimed the victims had been arrested by Russian forces and summarily executed.

Russia has said it will strive to uncover any crimes.

President Vladimir Putin came under increased pressure over Chechnya at a meeting of European Union leaders in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Friday.

They urged him to seek a political settlement to the conflict.

"There must be a political solution in Chechnya... We will go on expressing concern about the developments in Chechnya," Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson told a joint news conference with Putin.

"A genuine partnership (between the European Union and Russia) must be based on common values. The EU wants to engage Russia, not to exclude Russia, from the process of European integration."

Putin compared Chechen rebels to the ethnic Albanian fighters in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

He said the international community should follow Russia's tough stance on armed separatism to prevent Macedonia from imploding.

Putin insisted that Russia was co-operating fully with international aid groups working to alleviate the plight of civilians in the region.

Russia's Interfax news agency says an EU group, led by the head of its Russia mission, Richard Wright, will visit Chechnya next week, to discuss how to help tens of thousands of people displaced by years of fighting.

Moscow's Chechnya Minister, Vladimir Yelagin, was quoted as saying on Friday that all refugees forced into camps in neighbouring Ingushetia would return home by the end of the year.

He said some 60,000 people would be paid to rebuild homes shattered by Russian shelling and bombing.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Human Rights Watch - Chechnya
Chechen Republic Online
Russian Government

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