A top Russian official on Tuesday proposed investigating local and international human rights groups that protest the war in Chechnya for alleged ties to separatist rebels. “By skillfully combining truth, semi-truth and blatant lies, pseudo-human rights NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) are misleading international public opinion,” said Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, President Vladimir Putin’s commissioner for human rights in Chechnya. Human rights groups consistently condemn Russian troops for committing grave abuses against Chechen civilians in their nearly four-year-old war against separatist rebels in the mainly Muslim breakaway republic. “Chechnya clearly demonstrates that terrorist activities go hand-in-hand with the psychological war, propaganda and moral terror conducted by human rights NGOs,” Sultygov told the Interfax news agency. “There is a need to investigate the sources financing these organizations, including those with international status, for their potential ties to the international terrorist network,” he said. Russia insists that Chechen rebels maintain close ties with international groupings such as Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, which carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.