-Ambassador Valery Nazarov

Kathmandu: Good news has come from Grozny, Chechnya.

If every thing goes as expected by the Chechen population, the Chechens would have now restored permanent peace.

Describing the recent events in Chechnya, the Russian Federation Ambassador, Mr. Valery V. Nazarov talking to a select group of Nepali media men, March 28, said that “about 89% of the total electorate, out of 540,000 people, took part in the March 23 held referendum and that more than 95 of them voted for a new Constitution of Chechnya and Acts on the President and Parliamentary elections.

Elaborating the gains of the said referendum, Ambassador Nazarov made it clear that the RF conclusion has come to true which always favored a resolution to the Chechens issue to be sorted out by the Chechens themselves and the Chechens by engaging themselves in the referendum have made a clear choice for peace, in favor of positive development together with the Federal Center, the Russian federation.

“This is no less an achievement”, the Ambassador continued.

Talking about those Chechens who still possessed Arms and wish to negate the gains of the March 23 referendum, the Ambassador said, ” from this moment they are fighting not only for their false ideals, but are directly fighting against their own people”.

“Their actions run directly counter to the interests and the will, clearly and explicitly expressed at the referendum”, said the Ambassador adding that the referendum was held in an organized manner and that international observers monitoring the referendum haven’t so far found any serious violations during the voting and recognized it as “democratic” and “legitimate”.

The Chechen people, according to the RF Ambassador, were offered a chance to chose their destiny and they realized it in the full measure and that vote cast during the referendum is unambiguous which implies that the citizens of Chechnya see no future in their isolation from the Federal center.

“The Chechen republic has once and for all entered into the political jurisdiction of the RF”, said a beaming Russian dignitary.

Nepali observers maintain that the referendum was though very important step in the regard of restoration of peace in and around Chechnya but then still so many other related political issues remain to be mutually sorted out, for example, granting of general amnesty for those rebels who didn’t commit any heinous crimes; formation of legal bodies of power, and talks on the agreement on delimitation of authorities between the Chechens and the Russians.

Upon the conclusion of the March 23 Referendum, the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr.Abdul-Karim Arsakhnov said that “now every thing must be done to meet the hopes and the aspirations of the hundreds of thousands of residents of Chechnya who took part in the plebiscite and supported the constitution”.

Similarly, the RF President Vladimit Putin also has hinted that it was now urgent to start drafting a treaty on delineation of authority between the federal center and the Chechen republic.

According to the Russian diplomat, President Putin has ordered his government senior officers to urgently do every thing within the shortest possible time in order to complete work on the plans for the reconstruction of devastated Chechen republic.

“The results of the plebiscite are a heavy blow on the positions of Aslan Maskhadov and his cohorts”, the Ambassador revealed.

Concluding his remarks, Ambassador Nazarov said that the Federal Center and the Chechen leadership are determined to consistently move towards the political settlement of the Chechen problem.