{
  "id": "RL30389",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL30389",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101210,
      "date": "2000-05-03",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:36:49.489941",
      "title": "Renewed Chechnya Conflict: Developments in 1999-2000",
      "summary": "Russia began military airstrikes and a ground campaign in Chechnya in late September 1999,\nabout\n3 years after fighting in 1994-1996 had ended with peace accords. The renewed campaign began\nafter Chechen guerrillas had attacked the neighboring Dagestan region of Russia and had been\naccused of bombing several apartment buildings in Moscow and elsewhere, killing hundreds.\nChechnya's President Aslan Maskhadov denied that his government was involved in this violence,\nbut he appeared to have scant authority over many guerrillas. Russian fighting in Chechnya has\nresulted in thousands of casualties on both sides, including Chechen civilians, and the vast majority\nof Chechnya's half-million population has been displaced from their homes. The U.S.\nAdministration has been increasingly concerned about the escalating reports of human rights abuses\nby Russian forces in Chechnya but, as Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott stated in a major\nspeech in October 1999, wants to continue a policy of engagement with Russia. He supported\nRussia's efforts to combat terrorism and separatism but added that these efforts should not set back\ndemocratization or result in human rights abuses. The State Department in November stressed that\nRussia's behavior \"is not in keeping\" with the Geneva Convention and commitments made to the\nOrganization for Security and Cooperation In Europe (OSCE). Russian Prime Minister (now\nPresident-elect) Vladimir Putin dismissed this criticism, and asserted that combating \"international\nterrorism\" in Chechnya required more than \"a policeman with a gun.\" President Clinton in\nDecember warned that Russia's ongoing humans rights abuses in Chechnya would \"intensify\nextremism\" within Russia and \"diminish its own standing in the world.\" Evidence of abuses\nincludes reports of summary executions of civilians by Russian forces and other human rights\nabuses. The United States supported a resolution passed by the U.N. Human Rights Commission\non April 25, 2000, calling for Russia to open peace talks and facilitate an impartial investigation of\nalleged atrocities. U.S. policymakers are concerned that the Chechnya conflict will aggravate\npolitical and economic instability in Russia and further divert Russian government attention from \nnonproliferation and other bilateral cooperation. Growing support for hardline views in Russia\nseems to threaten U.S. efforts to integrate Russia into the community of democracies. By increasing\nits arms in the North Caucasus, Russia has failed to comply with the adapted Conventional Armed\nForces in Europe Treaty, though Russia at the OSCE Istanbul Summit in November 1999 pledged\neventual compliance. While instability in the North Caucasus makes a Russian-proposed Caspian\noil pipeline through the North Caucasus appear less feasible and a U.S.-backed plan for a pipeline\nto Turkey appear more feasible, widening regional instability also could harm this plan. Continuing\ninstability in Chechnya likewise provides a training ground for worldwide terrorism that threatens\nU.S. interests. Legislative action includes Senate approval in February 2000 of  S.Res. 262  (Wellstone), calling on Russia to cease fighting, open peace talks, and investigate reported\natrocities by its troops. Senator Jesse Helms in March 2000, introduced  S.Res. 269 ,\nstrongly urging the Administration to move beyond demarches to \"take tangible steps to demonstrate\nto [Russia] that the United States strongly condemns its conduct in Chechnya and its unwillingness\nto find a just political solution.\"",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Intelligence and National Security"
  ]
}