U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB #84
MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 2000, 12:45 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is a
pleasure to be back here with you.
If I can off the top just mention - we have a statement in more
detail, but we are talking a little bit about the elections that
were held in Chechnya over the weekend on August 20th by the
Russian government to choose a new deputy for Chechnya. The
final results are not yet available. But at this point, I would
say, it is going to be difficult to make any kind of judgment on
the conduct of this election under the conditions that are
prevailing in Chechnya. Voting took place without international
observers present and amid a continuing conflict.
The United States believes that elections in Chechnya can help
bring about reconciliation and the strengthening of democratic
institutions. However, to allow the broadest possible
participation, it would be far better for elections to take place
following a political settlement.
With that brief statement - there will be more in writing - I
would be glad to take your questions.
QUESTION: On the Russian nuclear submarine disaster -
QUESTION: So, you don't want to come out against elections, but
these elections - the circumstances would make this election
invalid? I mean, are you going as far as to say -
MR. BOUCHER: You can not make any judgments because there were
not international observers present. It is very difficult to
make any judgments on elections that are held under the
conditions that prevail at present in Chechnya.
What we would like to see is a political settlement and to have
elections after that that could be judged - that could be
respected by the international community.
QUESTION: What does that mean in terms of the status of whoever
wins the election?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we actually decide the status of
whoever wins the election.
QUESTION: Well, you can decide whether you want to think whether
he or she is official.
MR. BOUCHER: We don't necessarily deal with the person that will
be elected. This will be a deputy from Chechnya in the Duma and
the Duma will have to decide. But I think we did want to take
the opportunity to point out that, without observers, under the
current conditions, you can not make a judgment on the comment of
the elections. Furthermore, what we would like to see is
elections there held after a political settlement.
(The briefing concluded at 1:15 p.m.)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
