First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov: U.S. Changes Its Stance On Chechnya

First Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Vyacheslav Trubnikov believes that Washington is changing its stance in relation to Chechnya. He spoke at a meeting with journalists in the capital of Portugal, where he arrived to participate in consultations of the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group for Nagorny Karabakh. Mr. Trubnikov said that a certain change in "the ruling circles and public opinion in the U.S." has emerged in regards to the situation in Chechnya. However, this change "cannot be called radical and final." The terrorist attacks in the U.S., he said, "were like a cold shower for those who believed that Russia was bluffing when it connected international terrorism to Chechnya."