Copenhagen Stalls. Russia Asks Soviet Republics for Help

Head of the Chechen administration Ahmad Kadyrov made an official statement. He said that Denmark must extradite emissary of Chechen terrorists  Ahmed Zakayev at least for “his membership in Maskhadov’s government.” Kadyrov considers that this fact “a sufficient sin for Zakayev to be extradited, not to mention other crimes he committed.”

The head of the Chechen administration says: “Zakayev is a Russian citizen, and if Russian law enforcement structures provide enough evidence proving his guilt, he must be extradited to Russia.”
 
Meanwhile,the Dannish Ministry of Justice is apparently dissatisfied with the translation of materials pertaining to Ahmed Zakayev’s case that were provided by the Russian side. Representative of the Ministry Jacob Scharf said in an interview to Denmark’s news agency Ritzau that the “English and Danish translations of the documents have differences,” which is why “the formal conditions of extradition are considered as unrealized.” Scharf added that Denmark asked Russia to send “correct translations of the documents.”   

Russia sent an official demand for Zakayev’s extradition to Copenhagen on October 31; additional materials were sent at the insistance of the Danish side on November 5.  Connections of Ahmed Zakayev with terrorist activity are also proved by Father Philip, the Orthodox priest who was kept in Chechen captivity in 1996. The priest testified against Ahmed Zakayev and told about the horrors of  Chechen captivity.

From the standpoint of Denmark’s recent reaction, we cannot help mentioning the statement made by a Russian politician who said that Europe will be able to understand Russia only when it goes through a Nord-Ost hostage tragedy of its own. If this is indeed the case, it is a sad truth.

Russia’s news agency RIA Novosti informed today that Russia appealed to the former Soviet republics and asked them to audit the anti-aircraft complexes in  the republics in order to compare them with the complexes seized from terrorists in Chechnya. RF Minister of Defense Sergey Ivanov said at the opening of a session of the CIS defense ministers that the Foreign Ministry sent diplomatic notes to all former Soviet republics, the Baltic states first of all. In Sergey Ivanov’s words, the anti-aircraft missile complex Igla is to be examined. Earlier, an anti-terrorist operation was held in Chechnya during which dozens of Igla complexes were seized from terrorists.  Now, the RF Ministry of Defense is going to find out how the weapons appeared in Chechnya.

Let’s hope that former Soviet republics will cooperate  more readily than Brussels and Copenhagen.

Sergey Yugov
PRAVDA.Ru