May 17, 2002 - 23:50 AMT
KREMLIN "BLESSES" KRASNODAR TERRITORY LEADERSHIP'S ETHNIC PURGE
The other day Russian President Vladimir Putin and Krasnodar Territory's governor Aleksander Tkachev signed a document according to which, the agreement on separation of authorities of federal and territorial bodies of the state power is recognized invalid. This means the settlement of all the issues regarding the migration problems is passed to the terms of reference of the regional leadership. Several commentators, commenting the news, come to the conclusion that the Kremlin, in essence, has blessed the ethnic purge carried out by the territorial administration. The indirect support to Tkachev's actions from the direction of the federal authorities has brought to that the governor has let himself state about his unwillingness to meet with the Armenian parliamentary delegation members that should have left for Krasnodar May 15 in order to clear up the current situation regarding the threat of the resettlement of Armenians from the territory. It should be reminded that the Kuban leadership suggested to "postponing the visit terms of the parliamentary delegation since the Territory's leadership does not have time to meet with the delegation members".