Massacre allegations gain support

Allegations of a massacre of civilians by Russian forces in a village near Grozny, first published by The Irish Times two weeks ago, have been supported by a leading pro-Moscow Chechen politician, according to the BBC.

Mr Malik Saidullayev, chairman of the Chechen State Council installed by the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, told a BBC reporter, Mr Paul Wood, that "Russian mercenaries" carried out summary executions on 41 people in the village of Alkhan Yurt.

The alleged massacre first came to light when emissaries from the village's elders were sent to Ingushetia with instructions to inform independent sources.

Representatives of the Human Rights Watch organisation interviewed the representatives and the reports were corroborated by a number of other sources.

The BBC report quoted Mr Saidullayev as saying 41 villagers were summarily executed for resisting looting. The BBC quoted a man as saying six of his neighbours in the village of Alkhan Yurt, a few kilometres from Grozny, had been beheaded and their ears cut off. Others said Russian troops threw grenades into cellars knowing civilians were sheltering there.

The term "Russian mercenaries" usually applies to groups known as kontraktniki who serve on a contract basis to the army and are separate from the ordinary Russian conscripts who form the bulk of the force. In the previous Chechen war kontraktniki were accused of a massacre in the village of Shamaski.

Mr Saidullayev said a Russian colonel had been arrested by pro-Moscow Chechens for his part in the massacre, but Russian military sources described the BBC report as "nonsense".

There are a number of Chechen formations fighting on the Russian side including one led by Mr Bislan Gantemirov, the former Mayor of Grozny, a convicted embezzler who was released from prison to fight in the war. A report on the pro-government ORT television channel last night said Mr Gantemirov's troops would be part of a force which would capture Grozny before the week was out.