Russia Vows to Provide Security for Chechen Refugees

(Tbilisi, September 2, 2003, Civil Georgia) – Russian Minister for Chechnya Stanislav Iliasov told reporters in Tbilisi that Moscow will guarantee security for Chechen refugees willing to return to Chechnya.

Stanislav Iliasov said he hopes the repatriation will start in late September.

“The Russian Government is ready to grant compensation payments for housing and unemployment benefits in the case of repatriation,” Stanislav Iliasov said after a meeting with Georgian President Shevardnadze on September 1.

The Russian minister also said that a delegation of the Russi!
an Ministry for Emergency Situations will visit Georgia and meet with Chechen refugees in Pankisi gorge.

“I am ready to meet with Chechen refugees living in [Georgia’s] Pankisi Gorge and convince them to return,” he said.

The delegation of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations already visited Pankisi Gorge in June and tried in vain to convince Chechen refugees to return back to their former homes.

Up to 3,700 Chechen refugees, who fled the second Chechen war in 1999, live in Pankisi Gorge at the moment.

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