MOSCOW. Aug 14 (Interfax-AVN) - Salambek Maigov, who calls himself the envoy to Moscow for Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, announced his resignation on Thursday. In a statement sent to Interfax, he said that Maskhadov had recently criticized him for poor performance.
"Maskhadov, president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, told me, in particular, that the hopes pinned on my appointment had not materialized," Maigov said in the statement. Maigov blamed this criticism on "certain people in Ichkeria's government."
"I have to say that while the Kremlin is unwilling to engage in a meaningful political process and is trying to replace a negotiating process with make-believe 'political settlement,' in which the other warring parties are ignored. As the Ichkerian president has sharply criticized me, I cannot stay on as Maskhadov's envoy and thus announce my resignation," the statement says.
Maigov expressed confidence that "sooner or later senior Chechen and Russian officials will negotiate an end to the centuries-old confrontation between the two nations."