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Tuesday, 22 February 2005

POLITICAL ASYLUM FOR TERRORISTS UNACCEPTABLE - RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT

Published in News Digest

By empty (2/22/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

A high-ranking Russian diplomat has reiterated Moscow\'s position that, in the fight against terrorism, \"double standards,\" such as granting political asylum to Chechen separatists as some Western countries have done, are unacceptable. \"The fact that persons [such as Akhmed Zakayev or Ilyas Akhmadov], who are on international wanted lists for terrorist crimes, receive political asylum and the freedom to travel in some countries arouses concern,\" Anatoly Safonov, the Russian presidential envoy for international cooperation in fighting terrorism and international organized crime, told Interfax on Tuesday. Chechen separatist emissaries Zakayev and Akhmadov have been granted political asylum in Britain and the United States, respectively.
A high-ranking Russian diplomat has reiterated Moscow\'s position that, in the fight against terrorism, \"double standards,\" such as granting political asylum to Chechen separatists as some Western countries have done, are unacceptable. \"The fact that persons [such as Akhmed Zakayev or Ilyas Akhmadov], who are on international wanted lists for terrorist crimes, receive political asylum and the freedom to travel in some countries arouses concern,\" Anatoly Safonov, the Russian presidential envoy for international cooperation in fighting terrorism and international organized crime, told Interfax on Tuesday. Chechen separatist emissaries Zakayev and Akhmadov have been granted political asylum in Britain and the United States, respectively. \"We need unity and a common vision of goals in combating terrorism. The use of a \'double standard\' approach and the division of terrorists into \'good\' and \'bad\' is absolutely unacceptable,\" Safonov said. (Interfax)
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