MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The outlook for talks between federal officials and Aslan Maskhadov, president of the former Chechen separatist regime, is not promising, the Russian president's aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky told a briefing in Moscow on Friday.
President Vladimir Putin's initiative last September opened the door for dialogue but the latest video recording received from Chechnya of Maskhadov's speeches puts such a dialogue in question, Yastrzhembsky said. The evidence shown in the recording may lead to the opening of new criminal cases, he said.
Apart from Maskhadov, those rebel field commanders who have not been involved in shedding the blood of innocent civilians can establish contacts with the federal center, Yastrzhembsky said.
"The political process in Chechnya is not a one-way street" and is gaining momentum, he said.
Popular debate of the draft of a new Chechen Constitution is under preparation, Yastrzhembsky said. The elections held under the new Constitution in Chechnya will mark a turn for the better in the republic, he said.
Yastrzhembsky criticized numerous international organizations supervising the human rights situation in Chechnya.
"Quite a few statements made by international human rights organizations, in particular Human Rights Watch, are demagogical" and tend to be "based on unverified information," he said.
The steps ordered by Vladimir Moltenskoi, commander of the Russian units in Chechnya, are aimed at preventing human rights violations there, Yastrzhembsky said.