Patrick Leahy: “I rise to speak of Chechnya, a remote part of the world where horrific crimes and suffering are occurring every day…”

“I rise to speak of Chechnya, a remote part of the world where horrific crimes and suffering are occurring every day, that has faded from the newspapers and the minds of many of us here. Contrary to the myth perpetrated by the Russian Government that the conflict is over and life in Chechnya is returning to normal, the Russian military and the militias they support continue to use brutal, even barbaric tactics, including extra-judicial executions, arbitrary detention, kidnappings, rape, and torture. Armed opposition forces are also terrifying innocent civilians with their indiscriminate attacks. There seems to be no end to this conflict or to the suffering of the Chechen people. The Bush administration has been conspicuously silent about what is happening. One can only hope that President Bush has expressed alarm about the atrocities being committed by Russian soldiers in Chechnya in his meetings or conversations with President Putin, but there is no indication that if he has it has had any effect. There is certainly no evidence that the administration has exerted any real pressure on President Putin to reign in the Russian military, presumably because it does not want to jeopardize Russia's support for U.S. operations in Iraq and combating international terrorism. But contrary to what the Russian Government and some in the Bush administration insist, the violence in Chechnya has far more to do with self-determination than with international terrorism.…”