RUSSIA: MUSLIM LEADERS DISCUSS CHECHNYA WITH PUTIN

(16 Mar 2000) Russian/Nat Muslim leaders in Russia have met with the acting Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. The religious leaders met to discuss the current crisis in Chechnya, and to show Putin their support. Support for Putin was indicated in a meeting with the High Mufti Talgat Tajuddin, the Muslim spiritual head for European C-I-S countries. Russia began its campaign in Chechnya in September, after rebels invaded the Russian republic of Dagestan. As a result Russia controls most of Chechnya. But It has sunk into lawlessness since rebel fighters drove out Russian troops at the end of the 1994-96 Chechen war. Putin gave a warm welcome to the High Mufti Talgat Tajuddin and many other religious Muslims who joined him for discussions at the Kremlin. And though many Muslims have been slain in the conflict, Tajuddin stressed that the war in Chechnya is not a fight against Islam, but for the reestablishment of law and order