Co-chairmen Of Duma-pace Working Group On Political Settlement In Chechnya

Political settlement of the Chechen conflict is indeed necessary, but the point is that it should not turn into "a group of people weaving a plot," believes Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the International Committee in the parliament's lower house, the State Duma, and the co-Chairman of a Duma-PACE joint working group. On Thursday, the working group gave a press conference in Moscow to report the results of its trip to the North Caucasus. The other co-Chairman of the group, Lord Judd of the PACE, agrees with Rogozin that there is no alternative to political settlement. However, "the peace decision should be accepted by all parties concerned," he told the press conference, adding that it is important to negotiate with everyone except those guilty of brutal crimes. In his opinion, the meeting between Viktor Kazantsev, the presidential plenipotentiary to the Southern Federal District, and Akhmed Zakayev, a spokesman for Chechen armed units, is a welcome example.