U.S. Votes for U.N. Resolution on Chechnya

The U.S. voted on Thursday for a draft resolution of the UN commission on human rights, calling on Russia to cease and avert violations of human rights and international humanitarian rights in Chechnya.

According to the U.S. State Department press service, U.S. delegation representative Michael Soutvik said at a session of the commission for human rights that regarding the vote 'the violations are very serious and must be eliminated by the Russian government, if we want to reach a political decision for the protracted and ailing conflict. As a result of the war, the residents of Chechnya have been exposed to unbearable suffering.'

He said that the U.S. also wanted to strengthen that part of the resolution which reads 'firmly condemns' concluded terrorist acts by Chechen terrorist groups, including the taking of hostages at the theater center on Dubrovka in Moscow and the explosion of a truck by the main government building in Grozny last year. Soutvik also said that the U.S. government has included these organizations of Chechen fighters in its list of terrorist organizations.