Signatures for UN interim administration in Chechnya collected in Moscow

The collection of signatures for the United Nations interim administration in Chechnya took place on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow on February 21 and 22. The action was arranged by members of the Transnational Radical Party. Over 100 forms were signed for two days. Answering questions of the Caucasian Knot correspondent, the member of the Transnational Radical Party Council, Nikolay Khramov, said there were no extraordinary incidents during the action:

- Almost all people passing by treated the sore subject with understanding, some people showed indifference. Only one woman tore a subscription list in a pointed manner.

- How did officers of security agencies, in particular, police officers, treat the action?

- The point is that we have permission by the Moscow Government for the collection of signatures, that is probably why policemen never disturbed us.

- What are the results of the action?

- I can say with confidence that we managed to collect at least about 150 signatures on February 21 and 22, but this is only in Moscow. Over 15 thousand people all over the world have supported the action "For the United Nations interim administration in Chechnya". We believe the international community must give the two peoples, which both are losing war, a chance to gain peace conjointly.

- Don't you think there may be a reiteration of August 1996 if you succeed in moving the matter from the dead stop at last?

- I think there will be no reiteration. We support the program of the Foreign Minister of Chechnya, Ilyas Akhmadov, in which he states his vision of the problem of achieving peace. Russian forces must be withdrawn from the territory of the republic, and illegal armed units must surrender to the authorities. With all these going on there will be no political vacuum as the United Nations will be able to play the role of an interim administration.

- And what about government?

- It will be possible to hold real democratic elections in Chechnya only when the free state is build there, and this will be no sooner than in 10 years.