MOSCOW. Jan 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The German Embassy in Moscow confirmed on Thursday that a Chechen separatist envoy, Akhmed Zakayev, was currently in Germany but denied that the German government had invited him to the country and would "officially receive" him.
"According to our information, Mr. Zakayev was invited to Germany by German Bundestag deputies," an embassy spokesman told Interfax.
"Zakayev has received political asylum in Great Britain, so he can move freely within the boundaries of the European Union."
His visit "does not affect the position of the federal government on the Chechen issue, it remains unchanged," the spokesman said.
"We have always been for a political solution to the conflict; we do not question the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation; we condemn terrorism in any form; and the observance of human rights and the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Chechnya is of central importance," he said.