Maskhadov's impeachment - a political sensation

Aide to the Russian president Sergei Yastrzhembsky said the decision of the former parliament of the so-called Chechen Republic Ichkeria to impeach Chechen ex-president Maskhadov was a political sensation.

"First," Yastrzhembsky told reporters, "it is an act of courage, because those who undertook it realise its possible consequences in Chechnya'a unquiet reality. Second, it is evident that it was a difficult decision for the people who were Maskhadov's associates for many years and constituted the core of Chechnya's separatist movement." "After the decision taken by the so-called Ichkerian parliament, Makhadov, formerly the virtual president of Ichkeria, turned into an ordinary field commander," Yastrzhembsky noted.

"This decision has turned a page in the history of separatism," he stressed.