Chechnya Still Far From Peaceful, Monitors Say
From Times Wire Reports
Night raids by masked soldiers, illegal arrests and disappearances are still frequent in Chechnya despite a vote Moscow says has isolated rebels and paved the way for peace, rights monitors said.
In a political victory for President Vladimir V. Putin, 96% of voters last month backed a constitution anchoring the region with Russia. But separatists dismissed the poll as a farce.
“Human rights abuses continue as they did before,” said Anna Neistat, director of the Moscow office of New York-based Human Rights Watch.
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