The Russian-Chechen tragedy: The way to peace and democracy

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chechen Republic Ichkeria H. E. Ilyas Akhmadov held in Washington on Tuesday (March, 18) two press conferences, where he presented a principally new proposal to resolve the Russian - Chechen conflict.

The first conference was held at 9 a.m. (local time) in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty office. The second press conference took place at the National Press Club in Washington, DC at 2:00 p.m.

In his presentation, Ilyas Akhmadov explained main principles of the Chechen Foreign Ministry's proposal of "conditional independence", presented its printed version in English, and called the international community to initiate its implementation.

The well-known French intellectual Andre Glucksmann and Olivier Dupuis, a Member of the European Parliament, who accompanied Minister Akhmadov, declared their full support of the proposal and urged the international community to take immediate and effective actions to implement it.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria hopes that Russia and the international community will positively respond to the proposal, which genuinely enables to resolve the conflict in a win-win approach for all sides.

An extract from the proposal:

This paper examines some key features of the conflict and proposes a fundamentally new formula that can truly resolve the centuries-old discrepancies between Russia and Chechnya.

It argues that the continuation of the war is inadmissible, since the future of Russia and Chechnya, as well as the interests and credibility of the international community, are at stake.

Actions, however, must be preceded by a clear vision and purpose. Chechnya can no longer be a part of Russia, but it can and should become a part of the democratic world. The Chechen people should be offered a state of their own, via a transitional period of several years under an international trusteeship system, which would meet Chechnya's legitimate aspiration and enable Chechen society to recover from the catastrophe of the last decade, while simultaneously satisfying Russia's genuine security interests, as well as the interests of the international community, including Georgia. This is the only viable solution to this highly complicated and historically rooted conflict.

(in pdf* format - 172.51 KB)