Putin’s Chechnya policies ‘sufficient’: Armenian president

Agence France Presse — English
September 6, 2004 Monday

WARSAW Sept 6 — Armenian President Robert Kocharian on Monday judged
his Russian counterpart’s policies in separatist Chechnya sufficient
to deal with the dangerous conflict, in reaction to the deadly end
to the school siege in southern Russia.

Russian President Vladimir “Putin’s policies are sufficient in face
of the danger which clearly exists in Russia,” the visiting Armenian
head of state told a news conference in Warsaw.

Kocharian’s Polish counterpart Aleksander Kwasniewksi said the
Russian leader faced a “very difficult task” to find a solution to the
Chechen problem, where Putin has been fighting a losing battle against
separatists for some five years amid an ever spiralling casualty rate.

But Kwasniewski also pushed for a political solution to the war.

“It would be good to find a political solution. It would be ideal
if one could find committed partners from the Chechen side who could
stop terrorist acts” like the one at the school in Beslan, which left
more than 330 people dead, Kwasniewski said.

At the joint news conference, both men expressed their sadness and
solidarity with Russia over the hostage-taking.

Kocharian was in Poland on the second day of a three-day visit,
and on Monday the countries signed several agreements on the fight
against organized crime, as well as military and economic cooperation.