The US Government is to add three rebel groups from Russia’s breakaway republic of Chechnya to its list of terrorist organisations, State Department officials have said. The officials said the three groups would be blacklisted as early as next week, which would automatically lead to the freezing of any assets they may have in the US. Russia, which has long been asking Washington to take action against the Chechen rebel groups, has hailed the decision as a “long-awaited news”. But a top Russian official denied that the US move was connected with Washington’s desire to get Moscow – a key member of the United Nations Security Council – to back a new UN resolution on Iraq. The groups would be the first Chechen organisations to be placed on the US terror list, and experts say the move will strengthen Russia’s argument that it is involved in its own “war on terror” in Chechnya. Full Story
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