[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 75 (Friday, May 24, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E922-E923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS REPORT ON CHECHNYA

                                 ______


                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 23, 1996

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I noticed in the news that 
President Yeltsin has vowed to go ahead with a trip to Chechnya some 
time before the Presidential elections in June. As our colleagues are 
aware, Moscow has tried to reestablish control over the breakaway North 
Caucasus region by unleashing a brutal war against not only combatants, 
but also against thousands of noncombatants, Chechen and Russian, 
alike.
  Mr. Yeltsin says that he intends to go to Chechnya despite 
assassination threats. I truly hope there won't be any such attempts, 
but it must be admitted that the people of Chechnya have reason to be 
bitter about the fate of their homeland. While Chechen irregulars have 
committed their share of atrocities, there is emerging from Chechnya a 
frightening picture of the Russian Army degenerating from an organized 
military force into a band of barely controlled brigands.
  The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, of which I am 
proud to serve as chairman, held congressional hearings on the 
situation in Chechnya earlier this year. At these hearings, Russian 
Duma member and prominent human rights advocate Sergei Kovalev 
described the continuing depredations by the Russian military against 
civilians. In his words, ``45,000 innocent persons'' killed in the war 
is ``too high a price to pay for punishing [the late Chechen leader 
Dzhokar] Dudaev.''

[[Page E923]]

  Mr. Speaker, in this connection, I would note that the Commission on 
Security and Cooperation in Europe recently received a disturbing 
report from the well known international humanitarian organization 
Doctors Without Borders, drawing attention to the deteriorating human 
rights situation in Chechnya. This report, ``Civilians Targeted,'' 
documented the systematic bombing and killing of civilians by the 
Russian military in Chechnya, which, according to the report, has 
actually increased following President Yeltsin's announced peace 
initiative in March.
  I would list a few of the activities engaged in by the Russian 
military, as witnessed by Doctors Without Borders teams.
  Whole villages, including hospitals, schools and mosques, continue to 
be targeted, in blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions and other 
international agreements, to which Russia is a signatory.
  The Russian military extorts money from Russian civilians in exchange 
for safe passage out of villages under attack.
  Newly secured towns and villages are systematically looted and cattle 
are either killed or stolen.
  Civilians are systematically denied the right to humanitarian 
assistance and humanitarian relief organizations are denied access to 
the areas in greatest need, often long after a military offensive is 
over.
  The Russian military has consistently failed to respect the 
neutrality of hospitals and clinics, both in areas of intense military 
activity in the center of the country and in the capital Grozny, where 
the Doctors Without Borders hospital is under regular sniper fire.
  These are a few of the blatant violations of accepted rules of 
warfare and humanitarian conduct cited in the report.
  I think we can safely assume that Mr. Yeltsin's advisors have not 
provided him with a Russian language copy of the Doctors Without 
Borders report on his army's actions in Chechnya. There certainly have 
been indications that the President's advisors and military commanders 
have not been supplying him with entirely accurate information 
regarding the state of affairs in that war-torn region.
  However, I have yet to hear anyone doubt Mr. Yeltsin's personal 
courage. Perhaps he will leave the secure confines of the Severny 
airport on the outskirts of Grozny and see what sort of peace his 
military is promoting in Chechnya.
  I wish him a safe and instructive trip.

                          ____________________