GROZNY. March 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Chechnya's authorities see a direct link between attempts by guerilla units to step up their operations in the republic and a roundtable session on Chechnya, which is scheduled to take place in Strasbourg on March 21.
"There is a direct link between attempts by illegal armed groups to intensify their activities, including the latest events in the Sunzhenskaya district, and the upcoming roundtable," Chechen President Alu Alkhanov told journalists in Grozny on Friday.
Alkhanov declined to say whether the republic's authorities plan to attend the Strasbourg event. The Chechen president underscored the need in an earlier interview to hold this roundtable in Grozny.
"Guerillas are trying to step up their operations. Their aim is to show that they can act as a destabilizing factor in Chechnya," Alkhanov said, adding that these militants are following orders from separatist leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov.
An ongoing sweep operation in the republic's mountains has ruined the plans of many guerilla units, he said.
Commenting on the observance of human rights, the president said that "it does not make any difference who violates human rights in the Chechen republic - servicemen, guerillas or special-operations unit officers. This blow is twice as heavy if such crimes are committed by people vested with power," Alkhanov said.
The task facing the Chechen authorities is to ensure that the 1990s war in Chechnya never repeats itself, even 50 years down the road, he said.