RUSSIA: Police in the rebel Russian republic of Chechnya discovered dismembered corpses in a series of mass graves yesterday, as a wave of violence convulsed a region that the Kremlin claims to have all but pacified. Daniel McLaughlin reports from Moscow.
Reports from separatist rebels and Russian news agencies did not say how many corpses had been found, and differed over whether three or four graves had been uncovered. But all sources said several bodies had been beheaded and had their hands cut off. The heads of several victims were found in bags near their shallow graves.
Russian troops and rebels blame each other for a series of mass graves discovered in Chechnya over the course of two wars since 1994, and human rights groups say both sides are responsible for kidnapping, torture and murder.
In its annual human rights report, the US State Department said last week that Moscow's security forces were guilty of "numerous and serious rights abuses", and use of "indiscriminate force".
The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the report on Saturday, saying it contained "all the familiar clichés and stock phrases (and) double standards."
The US criticism came at a time of heightened Russian sensitivity over Chechnya, where a remote-controlled mine exploded last Thursday, killing eight civilians and wounding several more as they returned from work at a major military base.
The blast was the first major attack since the Kremlin celebrated an overwhelming victory in a March 23rd referendum on a new constitution for Chechnya, which Moscow says ties the republic to the Russian Federation and proved the local population's support for rule from Moscow.
But rebels and several democracy watchdogs called the vote a farce, and the guerrillas have continued almost daily attacks that undermine Russian claims to have subdued the rebels.