<st1:country-region w:st="on"> «Elections» in Chechnya as unlawful </st1:country-region>
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Lithuania</st1:country-region>'s top diplomats have been urged to list the recent parliamentary elections in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chechnya</st1:place></st1:country-region> as unlawful. <o:p></o:p>
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Rytas Kupcinskas, chairman of the Seimas Group for Interparliamentary Relations with the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, and <st1:PersonName w:st="on" ProductID="Algirdas Endriukaitis">Algirdas Endriukaitis</st1:PersonName>, secretary general of an International Parliamentary Group for Chechen Problems, have written a letter to Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis, urging to assess the parliamentary elections that were held last weekend. <o:p></o:p>
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Forces favorable to Vice-Premier Razman Kadyrov - de facto <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> henchman in the Chechen region - won the parliamentary elections, the first since the start of the second Russian invasion in 1999. The European Union said the elections to the Chechen parliament were a step towards democracy. <o:p></o:p>
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Chechen separatists did not participate in the polls, dismissing them as sham, however, the EU that has earlier criticized <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City> for human rights violations in the violence-stricken republic, gave a more positive assessment of the voting. Supporters of Chechen independence say <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lithuania</st1:place></st1:country-region> should not blindly follow the EU position on the matter. Since 1999, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chechnya</st1:place></st1:country-region> has been shaken by clashes between the Russian army and Chechen guerilla seeking independence. Although larger encounters are not frequent, both parties in the conflict incur damages nearly every day. <o:p></o:p>
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Lawfully-elected Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov was killed in an operation by Russian security forces in March this year. <o:p></o:p>
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Maskhadov was picked the president of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chechnya</st1:place></st1:country-region> in the beginning of 1997, shortly after peace agreements took effect in 1996. The elections were found lawful by the international community and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p>
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He has been leading the Chechen resistance efforts from the underground since the start of the second war in the republic in 1999. Just like the rest of the international community, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Lithuania</st1:country-region> does not recognize independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria declared more than a decade ago, considering the North Caucasus republic a part of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> but calling for peaceful solution of the conflict with independence supporters. <o:p></o:p>
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