[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 19 (Thursday, February 28, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1366-S1369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

 SENATE RESOLUTION 213--CONDEMNING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN CHECHNYA 
            AND URGING A POLITICAL SOLUTION TO THE CONFLICT

  Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself and Mr. Brownback) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 213

       Whereas the United States Department of State Country 
     Reports on Human Rights for 2000 reports that the 
     ``indiscriminate use of force by Russian government troops in 
     Chechnya has resulted in widespread civilian casualties and 
     the displacement of hundreds of thousands of persons'';
       Whereas the United States Department of State Country 
     Reports on Human Rights for 2000 reports that Russian forces 
     continue to arbitrarily detain, torture, extrajudicially 
     execute, extort, rape, and forcibly disappear people in 
     Chechnya;
       Whereas credible human rights groups within the Russian 
     Federation and abroad report that Russian authorities have 
     failed to launch thorough investigations into these abuses 
     and have taken no significant steps toward ensuring that its 
     high command has taken all necessary measures to prevent 
     abuse;
       Whereas there are credible reports of specific abuses by 
     Russian soldiers in Chechnya, including in Alkhan-Yurt in 
     1999; Staropromysloviski and Aldi in 2000; Alkhan-Kala, 
     Assinovskaia, and Sernovodsk in 2001; and Tsotsin-Yurt and 
     Argun in 2002;
       Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has 
     cracked down on independent media and threatened to revoke 
     the license of RFE/RL, Incorporated, further limiting the 
     ability to ascertain the extent of the crisis in Chechnya;
       Whereas Chechen rebel forces are believed responsible for 
     the assassinations of Chechen civil servants who cooperate 
     with the Government of the Russian Federation, and the 
     Chechen government of Aslan Maskhadov has failed 
     unequivocally to condemn these and other human rights abuses 
     or to distance itself from persons in Chechnya allegedly 
     associated with such forces; and
       Whereas the Department of State officially recognizes the 
     grievous human rights abuses in Chechnya and the need to 
     develop and implement a durable political solution: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the war on terrorism does not excuse, and is ultimately 
     undermined by, abuses by Russian security forces against the 
     civilian population in Chechnya;
       (2) the Government of the Russian Federation and the 
     elected leadership of the Chechen government, including 
     President Aslan Maskhadov, should immediately seek a 
     negotiated settlement to the conflict there;
       (3) the President of the Russian Federation should--
       (A) act immediately to end and to investigate human rights 
     violations by Russian soldiers in Chechnya, and to initiate, 
     where appropriate, prosecutions against those accused;
       (B) provide secure and unimpeded access into and around 
     Chechnya by international monitors and humanitarian 
     organizations to report on the situation, investigate alleged 
     atrocities, and distribute assistance; and
       (C) ensure that refugees and displaced persons in the North 
     Caucasus are registered in accordance with Russian and 
     international law, receive adequate assistance, and are not 
     forced against their will to return to Chechnya; and
       (4) the President of the United States should--
       (A) ensure that no security forces or intelligence units 
     that are the recipients of United States assistance or 
     participants in joint operations, exchanges, or training with 
     United States or NATO forces, are implicated in abuses;
       (B) seek specific information from the Government of the 
     Russian Federation on investigations of reported human rights 
     abuses in Chechnya and prosecutions against those individuals 
     accused of those abuses;
       (C) promote peace negotiations between the Government of 
     the Russian Federation and the elected leadership of the 
     Chechen government, including Aslan Maskhadov; and
       (D) re-examine the status of Chechen refugees, especially 
     widows and orphans, including consideration of the possible 
     resettlement of such refugees in the United States.

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Madam President, I rise today once again to draw 
attention to the suffering of people in

[[Page S1367]]

Chechnya. On behalf of myself and Senator Brownback, I am submitting a 
resolution urging the Russian government to seek a negotiated 
settlement to the conflict there, to end human rights violations by 
Russian soldiers there, to investigate and initiate prosecutions 
against those accused, and to ensure that refugees receive the 
assistance they need. The resolution also urges President Bush to 
promote peace negotiations between the parties, to obtain assurances 
from the Russian government that no security forces who are recipients 
of U.S. assistance are implicated in human rights abuses and to seek 
specific information on the status of investigations into reported 
abuses.
  The war in Chechnya has raged too long, and reports of egregious 
human rights violations by Russian soldiers continue to increase. 
Today, Human Rights Watch is releasing yet another report of such 
abuses, Swept Under: Torture, Forced Disappearances, and Extrajudicial 
Killings During Sweep Operations in Chechnya. Year after year we 
receive reports telling the same stories, yet nothing seems to change. 
Since September 11, Russian officials have argued more vigorously that 
they are fighting terrorism in Chechnya. Whether the Russian government 
believes this to be true or not is not the issue. What is clear is that 
Russia is acting illegally and immorally in Chechnya, and it must stop.
  I want to talk briefly about the United States and our relationship 
to this war. As we increase our cooperation with various governments in 
the war on terrorism, we cannot condone some of the actions these 
friends are taking in the name of fighting terrorism.
  Russia has been a key member of the anti-terrorist coalition since 
September 11. It has played a crucial role in our success in 
Afghanistan. I applaud and support this U.S.-Russian cooperation. But 
what is happening in Chechnya cannot be justified by the war on 
terrorism. Russian forces in Chechnya have acted illegally and with 
unspeakable brutality against the civilian population there. There 
continue to be credible reports of summary execution, mass detention, 
rape, torture, forced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and looting. The 
Russian government has so far refused to investigate such reports.
  The Russian government believes it is fighting terrorism in Chechnya. 
In fact, it frequently compares the U.S. war on terrorism to its own 
efforts in Chechnya. But the world community must remind Russia's 
leaders that even in a war on terrorism, ends do not necessarily 
justify any means. A war against terrorism does not permit abuses 
against civilians. We must remind Russia that the war against terrorism 
is a struggle for freedom and democracy. Free and democratic nations do 
not round up boys and beat them so badly that they have to be carried 
home when the are finally released. They do not torture and rape women. 
Today as I read the reports of intensified human rights violations on a 
massive scale in Chechnya, as well as of Russia's refusal to 
investigate such reports and hold responsible individuals accountable, 
I have to question Russia's commitment to democratic norms and to 
internationally recognized human rights standards.
  We have a moral duty not only to speak out against Russian atrocities 
in Chechnya, but also to ensure that we aren't unintentionally allowing 
them to continue. We must ensure that no security forces that are the 
recipients of U.S. assistance or participants in joint operations with 
the U.S. are implicated in human rights abuses in Chechnya. This 
resolution urges the President to provide that assurance.
  It saddens me to speak once again about a war that has now entered 
its third year. It is a war that has been conducted with such brutality 
that it has been hard at times to imagine the situation getting worse. 
Unfortunately, it has gotten worse. The Russian government apparently 
has intensified its campaign against civilians in the name of fighting 
terrorism. When I met recently with the Chechen Foreign Minister, he 
made it clear to me that he believes the post-September 11 period will 
be remembered as one of the most savage times in Chechen history.
  The New York Times reported recently that, according to Chechen 
police officials, Russian troops are killing civilians in a campaign of 
executions and looting that takes place alongside military operations 
aimed at destroying rebel forces. According to the article, Russian 
units roll into a town during the day to scout neighborhoods for 
residents who appear to have money or property worth stealing. Then, at 
night, the soldiers return in their tanks and burst into houses, 
stealing goods and killing witnesses. In one of the largest of Grozny's 
four districts, Chechen investigators have documented 17 cases in the 
last 12 months implicating Russian Interior Ministry troops in killing 
civilians during such looting.
  Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both documented 
accounts of terrible human rights violations in Chechnya. Our own State 
Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices reports the 
execution of at least 60 civilians last February in the suburbs of 
Grozny. It reports torture by police officers using electric shocks. It 
reports the rape of Chechen women by Russian soldiers. These are 
reports from 2000. The new report for 2001 will be released soon, and, 
sadly, no one expects it to be better.
  There have been credible reports of human rights violations on both 
sides of the conflict in Chechnya. I condemn human rights violations by 
all parties, as does the resolution we offer today. Chechen rebel 
fighters have increasingly targeted for murder Chechen civilians they 
believe are cooperating with the Russian government. Human Rights Watch 
World Report for 2002 reports that Chechen fighters murdered at least 
18 leaders of district and town administrations and at least five 
religious leaders, as well as numerous Chechen police officers, 
teachers and low ranking officials. There are extremist groups in 
Chechnya--some with ties to Arab extremist groups and possibly to al-
Qaeda. I condemn all acts of terrorism, but what is happening in 
Chechnya is a human tragedy, and nothing justifies the often brutal use 
of violence by Russian soldiers there.
  Credible reports estimate that the war in Chechnya from 1994-1996 
left over 80,000 civilians dead. The State Department cities evidence 
that the current war has resulted in the deaths of thousands of 
innocent civilians. There is credible evidence of the displacement of 
nearly 40 percent of the civilian population, or close to 400,000 
people. According to the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya, a 
group committed to finding a political solution to this conflict, a 
significant portion of the male population between the ages of 16-55 is 
simply gone.
  Doctors without Borders reports that the humanitarian situation for 
an estimated 180,000 refugees in camps in the neighboring Republic of 
Ingushetia is deteriorating. The majority of the refugees are living 
with families, but over 60,000 people remain in tents, empty schools, 
and factory buildings. Shelter and sanitation facilities are poor, worn 
out and far below acceptable standards. Sometimes one latrine serves 
100 people or more. The government of Russia also refuses to register 
the refugees, arguing they are economic migrants. Since these refugees 
are being accorded no legitimate status, they are often unable to get 
the humanitarian assistance they need. The resolution we offer today 
urges the Russian government to secure the distribution of humanitarian 
assistance and to register refugees as required by both Russian and 
international law.
  The government of Russia must work to find a political solution to 
end the war in Chechnya. In must put a stop to human rights violations 
by its soldiers, hold those who are responsible accountable for their 
actions and ensure that refugees get the assistance they need. I urge 
my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Again, this resolution, which Senator Brownback from Kansas and I 
submit, urges the Russian Government to seek to negotiate a settlement 
to the conflict there. This deals with the suffering of the people in 
Chechnya, and it calls on the Russian Government to end human rights 
violations by Russian soldiers there, to investigate and initiate 
prosecution against those who are accused, and to ensure that refugees 
receive the assistance they need.

[[Page S1368]]

  The resolution also urges President Bush to promote peace 
negotiations between the parties, to obtain assurances from the Russian 
Government that no security forces that are recipients of United States 
assistance are implicated in human rights abuses, and to seek specific 
information on the status of investigations into reported abuses.
  Senator Brownback and I submit this resolution timed with a report 
that Human Rights Watch is releasing today, which deals with these 
abuses. The title of the report is ``Swept Under: Torture, Forced 
Disappearances, and Extrajudicial Killings During Sweep Operations in 
Chechnya.''
  I recommend that my colleagues and their staffs look at this report, 
which is deeply troubling.
  I ask unanimous consent that a piece in the New York Times, written 
by Patrick Tyler, on January 25, 2002, be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the New York Times, Jan. 25, 2002]

          Police in Chechnya Accuse Russia's Troops of Murder

                         (By Patrick E. Tyler)

       Rozny, Russia, Jan. 22.--Nearly two years after major 
     hostilities ended here in Chechnya, the devastated republic 
     in the Caucasus, Russian troops are killing civilians in a 
     campaign of executions and looting that takes place alongside 
     military operations aimed at destroying rebel forces, 
     according to Chechen police officials.
       Chechen police authorities working under the republic's 
     pro-Russian government said in interviews over the past week 
     that Russian Interior Ministry units, known by their acronym, 
     Obron, have been scouting neighborhoods during mine-sweeping 
     operations for residents who appear to have money or property 
     worth stealing.
       At night, the soldiers return in armored personnel 
     carriers, some with identifying markings, and burst into the 
     houses, stealing household goods and killing witnesses. 
     Chechen police investigators say.
       In the central Leninsky district of Grozny, skeletal shards 
     of buildings teeter above a landscape of debris that evokes 
     scenes from European cities destroyed in World War II. The 
     rubble now lies sealed under a winter blanket of snow as 
     thousands of Chechen families eke out an isolated existence 
     in bomb-damaged homes.
       In Leninsky, the largest of Grozny's four districts, 
     Chechen investigators have documented 17 cases in the last 12 
     months implicating Interior Ministry troops in killing 
     civilians during looting. One of the most notorious of the 
     units is known as Obron-22, the Chechens say.
       But in each case, military and civilian prosecutors have 
     refused to bring criminal cases, the police said. Instead, 
     the prosecutors set aside files as inactive or return them 
     with demands to provide the names of soldiers involved.
       ``These units burst into people's houses on the pretext of 
     `mopping up' operations and commit murders,'' said Alvi 
     Magomed-Mirzoyev, a police lieutenant colonel who returned to 
     Grozny from Moscow a year ago to lead a criminal 
     investigation department in Leninsky.
       In Moscow, the Interior Ministry, the Defense Ministry and 
     prosecutors were asked to comment on these allegations, but 
     declined.
       Chechen police authorities are drawing up a republic-wide 
     list of unsolved killings of civilians in which federal 
     forces have been implicated by witnesses, but which 
     prosecutors have refused to pursue. One senior member of the 
     Chechen administration in Grozny, taking a significant 
     risk, provided documents on 163 such cases compiled under 
     the heading, ``Some cases of detention by representatives 
     of the federal forces of civilians who subsequently 
     disappeared or were found dead.''
       ``These are the conditions we are living under,'' he said 
     he handed over the document and disappeared into a police 
     headquarters building where Chechen recruits are certified 
     and inducted into a new force.
       A typical case in the file is that of Magomed H. Vakhidov, 
     57, once mayor of Urus-Martan, just south of Grozny. He fled 
     Chechnya when the second war with Russia broke out in 
     September 1999; a year later he sought and received an 
     amnesty to return home.
       But at 3 a.m. on July 20, 2001, a squad of Russia soldiers 
     fired smoke grenades into his home and then burst in and 
     arrested him, according to the documents. Russian military 
     authorities denied taking him into custody. On July 31, his 
     body was found in the gardens of a state farm, badly 
     mutilated from torture, electric shock, knife wounds and 
     burns from a blow torch.
       Russian officials routinely attribute such killings to 
     ``rebels.'' But, as one Chechen police official noted, ``the 
     rebels do not travel in armored personnel carriers.''
       A number of unsolved cases relate to Chechen rebels who 
     took advantage of amnesties issued by Moscow and by Russian 
     military commanders.
       In March 2000, after Russian forces had driven rebel forces 
     from Grozny, Roman S. Bersanukayev, 19, turned himself in to 
     the commander of Russia's 245th Rifle Regiment near Martan-
     Chu, near Urus-Martan.
       When his relatives asked the local office of the Federal 
     Security Service about his status, they were given a document 
     showing that no criminal proceedings would be lodged against 
     him. They also received an amnesty certificate signed by the 
     Russian military commandant for the district, Y.A. Naumov. 
     But Mr. Bersanukayev then disappeared from federal custody 
     and is feared dead.
       ``I am an officer and I took an oath to Russia to uphold 
     the law,'' said Colonel Magomed-Mirzoyev, the policeman, 
     ``but I am sick and tired of being afraid and I hate the 
     lawlessness that is going on here, and I want to do 
     everything I can to bring it to an end.''
       On a visit to Paris this month, President Vladimir V. Putin 
     asserted that Russian troops committing acts of violence 
     against Chechen civilians were being held accountable and 
     that judicial and law enforcement organs were functioning 
     normally. ``About 20 servicemen have already been brought to 
     justice,'' he said.
       By lending strong support to President Bush's war against 
     terrorism, Mr. Putin has successfully blunted Western 
     criticism of Russian conduct in Chechnya. Several governments 
     have suggested that Russia had more justification for its 
     actions than had been acknowledged.
       But the situation on the ground has continued to fester.
       Chechnya's top prosecutor, Vsevolod Chernov, said this week 
     that 212 criminal cases based on reports of missing people 
     had been opened in the last year. ``In some cases, the 
     disappearance of people can be connected to special 
     operations conducted by federal units,'' he said, but 
     ``sufficient legally substantiated evidence'' was necessary 
     to bring the cases to court.
       Local police officials tell a different story. They say 
     criminal cases sent to Mr. Chernov are technically open but 
     are frozen by the inability of criminal investigators to 
     interview Russian soldiers who may be witnesses or suspects 
     involved in crimes against civilians.
       The police investigators say that they have tried to gain 
     access to Russian military units, but that they are afraid to 
     approach Russian military prosecutors, who must approve any 
     contact with federal soldiers.
       The military prosecutors are housed at Russia's main 
     military base, at Khankala, on the southeast edge of Grozny. 
     The base is known to Chechens as a place where detainees are 
     taken and sometimes never return.
       ``If the shelling of a civilian neighborhood involved 
     federal servicemen, I wouldn't be able to send my 
     investigator because he might not come back,'' Colonel 
     Magomed-Mirzoyev said.
       Earlier this month, a senior official of the new Chechen 
     administration, Ruslan Yunusov, deputy minister of the 
     Chechen Emergencies Ministry and a veteran of the Soviet 
     military campaign in Afghanistan, was shot dead by federal 
     troops in front of the Russian military police headquarters 
     here when he tried to arrest Russian soldiers in an armored 
     personnel carrier. The soldiers were suspected of wounding 
     one of Mr. Yunusov's officers on Dec. 29.
       Several high-profile cases against federal troops have been 
     brought to court in the past year, like the murder trial of 
     Col. Yuri Budanov, accused of the rape and murder of an 18-
     year-old Chechen woman in March 2000. The trial began nearly 
     a year ago and has suffered numerous delays over demands for 
     psychiatric evaluations by military officials to determine 
     whether Colonel Budanov was temporarily insane when he 
     strangled the woman in a fit of rage over the deaths of his 
     comrades at the hands of rebels.
       Chechen officials also point out that there appear to be no 
     active investigations of reports of civilian massacres during 
     the intense Russian military campaign that was begun in 
     Chechnya by Mr. Putin after he became prime minister in 1999. 
     That campaign followed incursions by armed men--Russia called 
     them Islamic extremists--and terrorist attacks that left 
     more than 300 dead in Moscow and other Russian cities.
       A martial-style curfew is enforced so strictly here that 
     ambulance service is halted at night, when lethal mayhem 
     takes over. Russian forces hide in their fortified 
     checkpoints as rebels creep into the city to shoot at them or 
     to lay mines to blow up military convoys the next day.
       In addition to reported abuses by Interior Ministry forces, 
     regular Russian Army troops continue to inflict punitive 
     raids on Chechen towns and villages, as they did earlier this 
     month in Tsotsin-Yurt, just southeast of Grozny, after two 
     suspected rebels fleeing federal forces took refuge in a 
     house there on Dec. 30. The rebels were killed, and a large 
     column of Russian armored forces surrounded the town.
       Town residents said that over the next several days, 
     soldiers seized young and middle-aged men from their homes 
     and looted a number of houses, all in violation of military 
     pledges made last year calling for Chechen authorities to be 
     present to observe such ``mopping up'' operations.
       Seven civilians died during the initial gun battle, town 
     officials said, two of them after they were used as human 
     shields by soldiers attacking the house where the suspected 
     rebels holed up.
       One of the men used as a shield was Idris Zakiyev, a 42-
     year-old tractor driver with four daughters. The other was 
     Musa Ismailov, 43, an elder of the mosque who performed a 
     traditional dance at Chechen funerals; he had five children.

[[Page S1369]]

       ``They were shot at short distance and their bodies showed 
     signs of mutilation,'' said Ilyas Zakiyev, a brother of 
     Idris.
       Even now, weeks later, Russian units have blocked all roads 
     into Tsotsin-Yurt and more than 15,000 residents are being 
     held virtually as prisoners, forced to pay a bribe--amounting 
     to a day's wages in many cases--to enter or leave. Entering 
     Tsotsin-Yurt on Monday, this reporter saw Russian soldiers 
     collecting these tolls from Chechen drivers passing the 
     checkpoints.
       Turko Aliev, 51, the chairman of the town elders' council, 
     was among the first to meet with the Russian commander who 
     ordered the assault on the town. The commander threatened to 
     open an artillery attack in 30 minutes unless the elders sent 
     the mayor out to meet him and to identify the seven corpses 
     laid out before Russian news reporters as ``rebels.''
       ``I told him that was impossible because the mayor was in 
     Grozny, but he replied, `You now have 28 minutes,''' said 
     Ilyas Zakiyev, who accompanied the elders.
       At that moment, Mr. Aliev stepped forward as chairman of 
     the council and identified the bodies of Idris Zakiyev and 
     Mr. Ismailov, the mosque elder.
       The town officials were allowed to take the two bodies away 
     in a car, which Mr. Aliev said he drove through a gantlet of 
     checkpoints where one Russian soldier stopped him and 
     threatened to kill him.
       ``Where can we complain?'' asked Mr. Aliev, as he stood in 
     a makeshift morgue at the town mosque to make the final grim 
     accounting from the raid on the village: three bundles of 
     tattered clothing that belonged to unidentified men blown up 
     in a field on the edge of town.

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Madam President, I will read 2 paragraphs:

       In Leninsky, the largest of Grozny's four districts, 
     Chechen investigators have documented 17 cases in the last 12 
     months implicating Interior Ministry troops in killing 
     civilians during looting. One of the most notorious of the 
     units is known as Obron-22, the Chechens say.
       In the central Leninsky district of Grozny, skeletal shards 
     of buildings teeter above the landscape of debris that evokes 
     scenes from European cities destroyed in World War II. The 
     rubble now lies sealed under a winter blanket of snow as 
     thousands of Chechen families eke out an isolated existence 
     in bomb-damaged homes.'

  Let me summarize. The conclusions are as follows: It is the sense of 
the Senate that the war on terrorism does not excuse and is ultimately 
undermined by abuses by Russian security forces against civilians in 
Chechnya. It also is the sense of the Senate that Russia and Chechen 
leadership should seek a negotiated settlement. It is the sense of the 
Senate that Russian President Putin should: 1, end human rights 
violations, investigate them, and prosecute them; 2, provide secure 
access to international monitors and humanitarian organizations; and 3, 
ensure the registration of refugees and not force them to return 
against their will.
  Finally, the sense of the Senate says President Bush should: 1, 
ensure no United States assistance goes to Russian units implicated in 
these abuses; 2, seek specific information on the status of 
investigations, or lack of investigations, of the human rights abuses; 
3, promote peace negotiations; and 4, reexamine the status of Chechen 
refugees in regard to possible resettlement in the United States.
  The reason we introduce this resolution today is, again, this very 
powerful report that came out by Human Rights Watch. I want the Russian 
Government to know, and I want the people in Chechnya and in Russia to 
know, that here on the floor of the Senate we are paying attention to 
what is happening.
  I will send this resolution to the desk, and we will take steps to 
pass it, and I think there is strong support for this resolution in the 
Foreign Relations Committee. Most important is the message. The message 
is that we want to see an end to the terrorism, to the murder of 
innocent civilians. But, quite frankly, much of what the Russian 
Government is trying to excuse--all in the name of a war against 
terrorism--is, unfortunately, rape, torture, and murder of innocent 
people. That is not acceptable. That needs to be settled before the 
Senate and we need to pass this resolution.

                          ____________________