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US to Go Ahead With Meeting With Chechen Rebels
The United States will go ahead with a meeting with Chechen rebel officials despite of warnings from Russia, the State Department said Wednesday.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the meeting with Chechen rebel "foreign minister" Ilyas Akhmadov is another opportunity for the US officials to discuss the conflict in Chechnya.
"So I don't see anything unusual or upsetting in it, we're obviously very interested in the situation in Chechnya," Boucher told reporters.
Akhmadov is expected to see John Beyrle, the State Department's Acting Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Newly Independent States, Boucher said.
In Moscow, Russian Presidential Aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky, head of the newly formed Kremlin Information Department, said in an interview with the Itar-Tass news agency Wednesday that "Chechen terrorists may see meeting with the US as encouragement of their activity, which is not acceptable for Russia."
Also on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Kremlin said that if reports that the US administration would meet the Chechen rebels are confirmed, "Moscow's reaction will be harsh."
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