CONCERNING PLACEMENT OF KAVKAZ CENTER NEWS AGENCY ON LITHUANIAN INTERNET COMPANY SERVER

Unofficial translation from Russian

PRESS RELEASE

On February 12 to the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the Russian Federation a representation was made over the placement of the Kavkaz Center News Agency on the server of a Lithuanian Internet company. Through that web site the actions of Chechen gunmen are being propagandized that aim to wreck the settlement process in Chechnya. No actions have been taken against this web site by official Lithuanian authorities.

Lithuanian authorities hold a similar position also on the information center of the so-called Chechen Republic of Ichkeria operating in the country and on the Vilnius Support Committee for the Independence of Chechnya. Members of those organizations are regularly staging anti-Russian activities, like the presentation of a book by Alla Dudayeva organized a few days ago.

The connivance by Lithuanian authorities at the activities in Lithuania of the so-called Chechen representatives, who on its territory in effect speak out against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Russia, leaves us in profound bewilderment. Such an approach does not correspond to the character of relations between our countries and is creating a negative background for their further development.

The Russian side insists that Lithuanian authorities should take effective steps to suppress on their territory any actions in the interest of Chechen separatists.

February 12, 2003