How strange is it that I can agree with the Kavkaz Center Admins that when it comes to "Supporting the Palestinians no matter what"...that ship doesn't sail very far?!
Chechen rebels blast Hamas over Russia visit
03 Mar 2006 13:06:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Oliver Bullough
MOSCOW, March 3 (Reuters) - Chechnya's rebels slammed Hamas on Friday,
saying leaders of the Palestinian group had given their blessing to
the "murder of the Chechen people" by meeting top Russian officials.
The Islamist militant group, which swept to victory in Palestinian
elections in January, visited Moscow in a bid to win support from a
major foreign power since it is shunned as a terrorist group by Israel
and Washington.
Chechen separatist leaders said the group had sold out its principles,
and showed itself as hungry for power as corrupt officials who
governed the Palestinians before.
"We regret this decision of Hamas. In observing convention, the
leaders of Hamas will squeeze the hand of the killers of 250,000
Muslims of Chechnya, among which are 42,000 Chechen children," said
Movladi Udugov on Web site www.kavkazcenter.com.
Russian troops have fought for 11 years to crush Chechnya's
separatists. Although fighting has waned, soldiers and police still
die daily in clashes with rebels.
Udugov, who heads the rebels' information service, was using a
casualty figure for the 11-year Chechen war several times higher than
most estimates, although observers agree that savagery on both sides
has killed thousands of civilians.
"Their chosen path could once again push the Islamic movement into a
political dead end and ideological degeneration. In the end, Hamas
risks becoming another Yasser Arafat," Udugov said, referring to the
former Palestinian leader whose administration was widely criticised
as corrupt.
Russia has said it will press Hamas to accept the "road map" which
seeks to achieve Israeli-Palestinian coexistence and says Hamas must
recognise the Israel and renounce violence.
Udugov, who represents the wing of the Chechen rebels that has
conducted the worst attacks on civilians of the war, said Hamas was
naive to think that the friendship of President Vladimir Putin could
give the movement recognition.
"It is naive to expect that Putin's Russia can be some kind of
political partner for the Palestinian people. It is not the communist
party that now sits in the Kremlin, but people who have committed
appalling crimes," he said.
Akhmed Zakayev, who lives in London and represents the separatists'
less radical wing, said the visit showed that Hamas did not care about
the cause of fellow Muslims in Chechnya.
"People justifying the murder of the Chechen people could in no way be
seen as friends or comrades of the Chechens," he said in comments on
another rebel Web site (www.chechenpress.info).
"What benefit could the Chechen leaders gain from contacts with a
movement that with all its strength tries to establish contacts with
the Chechens' deadliest enemies." (RUSSIA-HAMAS-CHECHNYA; Writing by
Oliver Bullough, Editing by Elizabeth Piper,
[email protected], +7 095 775 1242, RM:
[email protected]))
03 Mar 2006 13:06:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Oliver Bullough
MOSCOW, March 3 (Reuters) - Chechnya's rebels slammed Hamas on Friday,
saying leaders of the Palestinian group had given their blessing to
the "murder of the Chechen people" by meeting top Russian officials.
The Islamist militant group, which swept to victory in Palestinian
elections in January, visited Moscow in a bid to win support from a
major foreign power since it is shunned as a terrorist group by Israel
and Washington.
Chechen separatist leaders said the group had sold out its principles,
and showed itself as hungry for power as corrupt officials who
governed the Palestinians before.
"We regret this decision of Hamas. In observing convention, the
leaders of Hamas will squeeze the hand of the killers of 250,000
Muslims of Chechnya, among which are 42,000 Chechen children," said
Movladi Udugov on Web site www.kavkazcenter.com.
Russian troops have fought for 11 years to crush Chechnya's
separatists. Although fighting has waned, soldiers and police still
die daily in clashes with rebels.
Udugov, who heads the rebels' information service, was using a
casualty figure for the 11-year Chechen war several times higher than
most estimates, although observers agree that savagery on both sides
has killed thousands of civilians.
"Their chosen path could once again push the Islamic movement into a
political dead end and ideological degeneration. In the end, Hamas
risks becoming another Yasser Arafat," Udugov said, referring to the
former Palestinian leader whose administration was widely criticised
as corrupt.
Russia has said it will press Hamas to accept the "road map" which
seeks to achieve Israeli-Palestinian coexistence and says Hamas must
recognise the Israel and renounce violence.
Udugov, who represents the wing of the Chechen rebels that has
conducted the worst attacks on civilians of the war, said Hamas was
naive to think that the friendship of President Vladimir Putin could
give the movement recognition.
"It is naive to expect that Putin's Russia can be some kind of
political partner for the Palestinian people. It is not the communist
party that now sits in the Kremlin, but people who have committed
appalling crimes," he said.
Akhmed Zakayev, who lives in London and represents the separatists'
less radical wing, said the visit showed that Hamas did not care about
the cause of fellow Muslims in Chechnya.
"People justifying the murder of the Chechen people could in no way be
seen as friends or comrades of the Chechens," he said in comments on
another rebel Web site (www.chechenpress.info).
"What benefit could the Chechen leaders gain from contacts with a
movement that with all its strength tries to establish contacts with
the Chechens' deadliest enemies." (RUSSIA-HAMAS-CHECHNYA; Writing by
Oliver Bullough, Editing by Elizabeth Piper,
[email protected], +7 095 775 1242, RM:
[email protected]))
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