RUSSIA'S RIGHT AND DUTY TO RESTORE ORDER
Anatoly Kolodkin,
President of the Russian Association of international law
Voice of Russia 19.01.2000 21:00 It must be stressed first of all that Chechnya is an integral part of Russia and that no country in the world has recognised it as an independent republic. We firmly state that Russia has all constitutional rights to take steps to restore law and order in any of its republics or regions since it will be doing so strictly under international law. There exists a special concept on intervention under which Russia cannot permit the creation of local armies on Russian territory, or allow any of its regions and republics to proclaim independence without the expressed consent of the central authorities. It must be vigorously underlined that the Russian central government is duty-bound to take measures to restore constitutionality in any part of Russian territory where attempts are being made to subvert law and order. From the point of view of international law and from the viewpoint of domestic state laws the introduction of Russian troops in Chechnya and the subsequent anti-terrorist campaign are legal and legitimate. The position of western mass media an especially of members of EU council is, putting it rather mildly, strange and inexplicable. They speak of war in Chechnya and human rights violation by Russian forces whereas a war can be fought under international law only between two separate and independent nations. What's happening in Chechnya is restoring constitutionality, law and order. For another, Russian troops are doing everything possible to avoid avoidable civilian causalities and are trying hard to protect civilians against the terrorists. By its anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya Russia is implementing the international agreement on combating terrorism.
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