Moscow Believes War in Iraq May Challenge UN Existence

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed issues of the forthcoming referendum in Chechnya and the situation around Iraq with Chechen spiritual leaders.

It was said that war in Iraq would not only lead to human casualties and destruction of one of the Islamic relics, Baghdad, a city with a 1000-year history, but would also challenge the existence of the UN, the President's plenipotentiary for ensuring rights and freedoms in Chechnya Abdul-Khakim Sultygov told journalists after the meeting.

When speaking on the situation in Chechnya, Sultygov pointed out that the President had confirmed his and the federal centre's unaltered position about the necessity to transfer powers to the Chechen people.

At the meeting the Chechen spiritual leaders talked about the necessity of holding an internal Chechen dialogue, said President of the Peace, Mercy, Morality charity foundation Khamzat Salamov. He also pointed to the importance of adopting a law that would envisage an amnesty for people who under the influence of "distorted values" had taken up arms and were now looking for a way out of this situation.

Apart from this, Salamov spoke about the plans to create a Public Council of Chechnya that would comprise the most authoritative people in Chechnya, interested in the republic's peace and prosperity.