Feeling Sidelined, Pro-Kremlin Chechen Militiaman Quits
A pro-Russian militia leader in Chechnya said Tuesday that he was resigning, while the Kremlin said contacts with the rebel republic’s president were continuing but played down the possibility of direct talks.
Bislan Gantamirov, a Chechen tapped by the Kremlin last fall to lead a pro-Russian police force, said on RTR state television that he was resigning because his force had been sidelined by Russian paramilitary police.
Human rights groups have accused the paramilitary police of looting, beatings and arbitrary arrests.
Gantamirov is detested by the rebels as a traitor, and his resignation could remove one of the many issues between the insurgents and the Kremlin.
Meanwhile Tuesday, Russian President-elect Vladimir V. Putin’s spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky, said Moscow is continuing to talk with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov through intermediaries in exploring political solutions to the conflict.
But Yastrzhembsky said that “without the military phase, it’s impossible to use political means.”
He said Russia wants to see Maskhadov demonstrate goodwill by handing over suspected terrorists and surrendering weapons before talks begin.
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