MOSCOW. Aug 30 (Interfax-AVN) - The Chechen government still objects to negotiations with separatist leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev.
"This is a matter of principle and there can be no alternations - no negotiations," Chechen envoy to Moscow and Deputy Prime Minister Ziyad Sabsabi told Interfax on Monday.
"Representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office should probably speak to Maskhadov and Basayev," he said.
Chechnya will continue the policy of late president Akhmad Kadyrov in the return of rank-and-file rebels, who are not guilty of grave crimes, to normal life, he said.
"We will speak to those who want to live a regular life and work for the benefit of the people. Such contacts and negotiations are held daily. There are people who have been misled by ideas of independence and pseudo-patriotism," Sabsabi said.
Alu Alkhanov, who won the presidential election in Chechnya, told Interfax on Monday that he rejected any political negotiations with the leaders of illegal armed units.
"Work on the return of rebels who have not committed grave crimes has not stopped for a day in Chechnya," he said. "We have proven that not a single rebel who trusts the Chechen administration and lays down his arms will be deceived and prosecuted for crimes he has not committed," Alkhanov said.