The vast majority of refugees who have fled fighting in Russia's Chechnya province are too scared to return home, a survey by an international aid group showed today.
The findings of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) survey, which was obtained by Reuters, contradict officials in Moscow, who say Chechnya is returning to normal and that the decade-long military campaign against separatist rebels has worked. They have trumpeted the return of refugees as proof.
"It is obvious that people have been returning to Chechnya against their will, giving up under tremendous pressure and without other choice," said the conclusion to the MSF survey, due to be published soon.
The United Nations and other organisations criticised Russia in December for forcing refugees to return to Chechnya, where buildings and public services have been shattered by the war between Russian forces and rebels.
The MSF survey was conducted in February and March, with MSF workers interviewing 3,209 families, totalling 16,499 people from eight official and unofficial encampments in the neighbouring province of Ingushetia. It was partly funded by ECHO, the European Union humanitarian aid office.
More than 98 per cent of the families said they had no plans to return to Chechnya, with 93 per cent of those families saying they were worried for their safety if they did go back to the mountainous, mostly Muslim region.