The Republican, MA
Sept 6 2004

Armenian Fest brews some fun
Monday, September 06, 2004
By PATRICIA NORRIS
[email protected]

SPRINGFIELD – Anita Assarian can tell your mood by what’s left in
your coffee cup.

For $5 Assarian brewed customers a strong demitasse cup of thick
Armenian coffee and then read the sticky grounds that clung to the
bottom and the edge of the shot-glassed sized mug.

The tiny West Springfield woman and her insight were a main
attraction at the 8th annual Armenian Fest on the grounds of St.
Mark’s Armenian Church on Wilbraham Road.

The festival featured traditional foods, music and games from a
country considered the first to officially embrace Christianity as
its religion around 300 A.D.

While fortunes were read for some, children bounced in a blow-up
bounce house and adults danced to live Armenian music under overcast
skies.

Although the fair was free and open to the public, proceeds from
food, drink and Assarian’s fortunes benefited the church.

“I only do this once a year because it is for the church,” said
Assarian, who learned to read the markings as a girl from her mother.

But that does not mean Assarian does not put stock in her
interpretations.

“I didn’t believe in it until everything my mother said came true,”
she said, adding that her mother told her she would marry an only son
in a far-off country.

“And here I am,” she said.

Brenda Edwards and Gerard Richards are not Armenian but they came to
the fest to enjoy the food and a culture that is not their own.

The two, who own Mantic Arts Wellness, a wellness center in
Springfield, got a reading by Assarian because last year she foresaw
they would be taking a two-week trip. In a few weeks they leave for
the south of France.

“She told us we had a lot of protection,” said Edwards, who believes
in her own innate psychic abilities after a near-death experience as
a teen.

But not everyone was a believer in the mystical.

“We don’t believe any of it, but we enjoy the coffee,” said Hagop
“Jack” Boyajian, a St. Mark’s parishioner, who had yet to get his
coffee read.

As an added attraction, this year organizers set up a country store
that served exclusive Armenian goods such as cracker bread, a yogurt
drink called Tahn, and traditional pickled vegetables, among other
things.

Hot foods like shish kabab and losh – spiced lamb and beef – were
also served.

“It’s great stuff,” said Steve Barrian, event organizer.

Boyajian said the annual event allows the Armenian community which is
often splintered around the greater Springfield area to come together
and share their customs and their fare with each other and the
extended neighborhood.

“The parishioners here do an excellent job,” he said.

Armenian foreign debt shrinks by 2.5% in H1

Interfax
Sept 6 2004

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia’s foreign debt fell 2.5% from the
beginning of the year to $1.07 billion in the first half of 2004,
the country’s Finance and Economic Ministry told Interfax.

The debt fell 0.8% year-on-year in the half.

Government debt accounted for 79.3% of total foreign debt, or $849.2
million. It grew 0.1% in the twelve months from June 2003 and it fell
2.6% in the six months from January 1, 2004.

The Armenian Central Bank’s debt was $211.4 million at the end of June,
or 19.8% of total debt, and it fell 1.5% in the half. The Central
Bank’s debt grew 3.8% in the twelve months from the end of June 2003.

Armenia’s debt before the World Bank grew 15.6% for the year to $685.7
million. Its debt to the International Monetary Fund increased 3.8%
over the year to $211.4 million.

Russia targets world with new jet range
By M. COREY GOLDMAN, FORWARD

Toronto Star, Canada
Sept 6 2004

While the aviation industry has had its fair share of setbacks over
the past few years, people are still flying and airlines are still
buying aircraft..

Lots of countries are content with the status quo. While many have
their own national passenger airline, they typically don’t go to the
trouble and expense of developing their own planes that outside their
own borders would have to compete with the two giant makers, Airbus
and Boeing Co, not to mention No. 3, Bombardier with its Canadair
and de Havilland offerings.

Except in Russia, where things are a little different thanks to 70-plus
years of communist rule that made innovation in the aerospace industry
a priority — though mainly for the military, not for the kinds of
planes regular people ride on.

But over the past 10 years, Russia’s aerospace companies have been
working hard developing new kinds of jets that they hope will not
only be embraced by the country’s own airlines but find markets around
the globe.

They’ve also been trying to show the world that they make good planes
— jetliners that will be reliable and safe, despite having emerged
from the depths of Design Bureaus and state-owned manufacturing plants.

One initiative, called the Russian Regional Jet program, or RRJ,
has some big backers. The program, which will soon produce three
different-sized small jets, a 60-seater, a 75-seater and a 98-seater,
is being developed by Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft with support
from Boeing, which is working as a consultant on the deal.

Sukhoi hopes to deliver from 800 to 1,000 RRJs through 2022, and has
just announced an order for 50 RRJ-95 aircraft from Sibir, Russia’s
second-biggest carrier. Russia’s NPO Saturn and France’s Snecma Moteurs
are involved in designing the propulsion system of the new aircraft.

What it points to is a shift away from Russian aircraft designs with
roots in the Cold War era, hundreds of examples of which remain in
service but that in most ways lag behind world standards.

The history of Soviet aeronautics spins into quite a tale. In the
mid-1930s the Soviet government set up what was called a Central Design
Bureau — a state-run agency whose sole purpose was to design bombers,
fighters, and transport and cargo airplanes.

One part of that bureau had a section for designing long-range
bombers, headed by Sergej Vladimirovich Ilyushin, who later became a
successful designer of long-range jets, including the Ilyushin series
of commercial and military jets that exists today.

A different area called the Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute was
run by Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev, who designed and built a large
number of various Soviet aircraft called Tupolevs, including the two
planes that simultaneously crashed last month, apparently brought
down by terrorism.

Those two families of commercial airplanes, named for their respective
creators, served the Soviet Union just fine for many years. They were
used to transport people, cargo, and military equipment all around
the vast country. In the 1990s the Soviet monopoly carrier Aeroflot
was dismantled into dozens of smaller carriers, many of whom had
doubtful finances, poor management and even poorer reputations.

But as the industry continued to grow, companies like Aeroflot and
Sibir wanted re-equip.

Western-built planes from the likes of Boeing and Airbus were there
for the taking, but at a hefty price, thanks to government-imposed
tariffs of 20 per cent meant to encourage airlines to keep buying
Russian-made planes rather than imported ones.

But the Russian designs were old, not up to speed with what Boeing,
Airbus and others were producing.

And with no system in place for leasing aircraft from the domestic
manufacturers that are still producing planes, new aircraft were,
and are, difficult to come by no matter where carriers look.

A senior official at Russia’s industry and energy ministry warned
earlier this summer of a possible crisis in 2006 or 2007 as aircraft
become antiquated and international noise and emission requirements
come into play.

Aeroflot has some Boeing 777s, 767s and Airbus A310s in its fleet,
though the majority of its planes are Tupolevs and Ilyushins — the
TU-134, TU-154, IL-96, IL-86 and IL-62. Almost all of Sibir’s aircraft
are Tupolevs and Ilyushins — the TU-154, TU-204 and IL-86.

One way Russian carriers have gotten around the tariffs and
restrictions is by buying or leasing planes for airlines they have
a stake in that are in other countries.

Sibir, which took over 70 per cent of Armenian carrier Armavia last
year, inherited one leased Airbus A320. Because Armenia charges only
a registration fee for imported aircraft, Sibir can buy or lease more
if it likes.

Other manufacturers that found themselves outside Russia after the
Soviet Union crumbled have enjoyed some success.

Antonov, based in Ukraine, has been building new cargo planes such
as the An-225 Mriya, which has three jet engines on each side and
can transport cargo literally on its back — on top of the fuselage
outside the plane.

The entire Russian aerospace industry appears to be at a crossroads.
The regional TU-334 has flown; first RRJ is expected to make its
maiden test flight in 2006, with commercial use to begin a year later.

With a land mass bigger than Canada’s, with 11 different time zones
and with only one road connection from one end of the country to the
other, analysts expect the domestic market for smaller regional planes
to be huge.

Aeroflot carried 5.8 million passengers in 2003, up 6.5 per cent from
2002. Sibir carried 3.5 million passengers last year, while passenger
volumes grew more than 25 per cent for the first half of this year.
The industry as a whole has notched up 15 per cent growth almost
consistently since 2000.

If the RRJ program is successful, it will be proof to the world that
Russia can build modern, sophisticated planes that serve a purpose,
not only for Russia but for other markets too. Some wonder whether
Russia should sink billions of dollars into an industry that is
struggling to break free from its military, government-dominated past,
in the face of massive competition from entrenched players.

Russia’s own carriers aren’t holding their breath for competent new
jets to roll out in their own backyard.

While Sibir has signed a letter of intent with Sukhoi to buy the
50 RRJ-95 aircraft starting in 2007, one of its senior officials
recently told Russian news agency Prime-Tass that it plans to take
out a lease on 100 Boeing 717 regional jets by the end of this year,
with plans to continue taking out leases on foreign-made aircraft
over the next 10 years.

Still, it’s worth remembering there once seemed little hope for the
European consortium known as Airbus when it set out to take on Boeing
back in 1970. Airbus struggled to produce new designs to compete with
Boeing and runner-up McDonnell Douglas Corp.; Airbus practically had
to give away its first jets to get airlines to fly them.

Perhaps one day we will, indeed, step into a brand-new Russian-built
jetliner, for our shuttle flight to Ottawa, Montreal or New York.

Foreign investment in Armenia climbs 41% in H1

Interfax
Sept 6 2004

Yerevan. (Interfax) – The volume of foreign investment in the economy
of Armenia increased 41.3% year-on-year to $106.3 million over the
first half of 2004, Armenian Trade and Economic Development Minister
Tigran Davtian announced at a Friday press conference.

Direct foreign investment increased 79.1% year-on-year to $64.7 million
over the first half. Davtian said the largest investments continue
to come companies in Russia, the United States and the European Union.

National communications operator Armentel attracted the largest
foreign investments for telecommunications network development.
Armentel attracted $41.5 million in the first half, a 40% year-on-year
increase, including $21 million in direct foreign investments

The Armenian National Statistics Service’s numbers indicate that
first-half investments from France increased 4871% year-on-year to
$13.7 million, from Georgia 255.3% to $41.5 million, from the United
States 101.3% to $15.2 million, from Argentina 80.3% to $16.1 million,
from Lebanon 60.4% to $1.6 million, from Luxembourg 69.1% to $763,000
and from Canada 34.6% to 1.3% million.

Newsday, NY
Sept 6 2004

MARATHON MAN
Sarge deserves a salute
Sargsian, after two improbable wins, faces his good buddy Agassi

BY JEFF WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER

For Sargis Sargsian, this is just too good. After a 2004 season
filled with poor play and plenty of frustration, he finds himself in
the fourth round of the U.S. Open. He finds himself playing in front
of his adopted American family. He finds himself about to play Andre
Agassi today.

“It’s crazy good, unbelievable good,” said the man called Sarge.

Just how crazy, just how unbelievable has Sarge’s Open been? His
five-set victory over Paul-Henri Mathieu on Saturday night in 4:44
followed a five-set victory over 10th-seeded Nicolas Massu in 5:09 on
Thursday night, the longest back-to-back matches any man has ever
played in the Open.

His appearance in the fourth round equals his best performance at a
major, at the 2003 Australian Open. But what is just too good is that
he now gets to play Agassi, his best friend in tennis, at Arthur Ashe
Stadium.

“This is very much a dream come true for me,” Sargsian said yesterday
as he sat in a quiet corner of the players lounge. “Would be dream
come true to beat him, too.”

Sargsian’s story is just too good. He’s a 31-year-old Armenian who
came from a poor family and harsh conditions in his homeland on a
trip to the United States with his national team in 1992. Debbie
Welch, a former top-flight player who was a peace worker in Armenia,
had seen him play and was instrumental in bringing the team over for
exhibition matches in the Northeast.

In trying to arrange for players to stay in the New Haven, Conn.,
area, Welch called names in the phone book that ended in “ian.” She
came across Vazrich and Catherine Mansourian.

“She asked us if we were tennis fans and would we be interested in
hosting some players,” Catherine Mansourian said yesterday from her
Orange, Conn., home. “I said, ‘Are you kidding? My father-in-law was
the national tennis champion of Iran.'”

So the Mansourians, who are Armenian, took in Sargsian and another
player, Tsolak Gevorkian. What started out as something less than a
week’s stay has turned into a 12-year relationship.

“It’s almost impossible to believe,” Catherine said. “But it’s been
an amazing journey.”

The long story short is this. The Mansourians put Gevorkian in high
school and tried to find a college scholarship for Sargsian.
Catherine Mansourian mailed out 24 letters to universities and
Sargsian landed a scholarship at Arizona State. After his junior year
he had back surgery, then came back to win the 1995 NCAA
championship.

That year he got a wild card into his first U.S. Open. After turning
professional, he met Brad Gilbert, then Agassi’s coach. Gilbert
arranged for Sargsian and Agassi, whose father is Armenian, to
practice together before a tournament in San Jose in 1996. They have
been fast friends since. Agassi owns a 6-0 career record against him.

“We talk every day during the [Open],” said Sargsian, who ia ranked
54th in the world and has one victory on the ATP tour. “He calls me
after the matches to congratulate me, to give me advice, to help me
out. He tells me about how to play certain players. He tells me how
to recover from long matches, tells me to take electrolytes. He is a
true friend. He gives from his heart. He means so much to me.”

Another significant presence in his life is his metzpop. That’s
Armenian for grandfather, and Sargsian considers Minas Mansourian,
Vazrich Mansourian’s 101-year-old father, to be his own grandfather.

The Mansourians, including Minas, have been to all of his Open
matches. “They have been so good to me, it is unbelievable story,”
Sargsian said.

It’s a story too good to end now.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Sept 6 2004

TRIPARTITE MEETING OF FOREIGN MINISTERS DUE IN NEW YORK
[September 06, 2004, 15:26:08]

Ministers of foreign affairs of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia are
to meet in the course of forthcoming gathering of the United Nations
General Assembly in New York, due on 21 September.

As stated, the parties will focus issues of settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karbakh conflict, the role of Turkey in
the mentioned question, other problems.

Head of the foreign policy department of Azerbaijan will also have
meetings with foreign ministers of other countries.

The Scotsman, UK
Sept 6 2004

Sergey and Lusine Khachatryan

SARAH JONES

QUEEN’S HALL, EDINBURGH

SERGEY Khachatryan, the 18-year-old Armenian violinist, is one of the
most naturally gifted musicians on the international circuit.
Seemingly immune to the more negative associations of hype which
attend young musicians, the sober Khachatryan asserted his class in
this final Queen’s Hall concert of the International Festival through
his trademark refined playing; never mannered, but mature, assured
and of an intense musicianship.

His solo Bach Violin Sonata No 2 in A Minor was steeped in eloquence
and imagination, stamped with his own subtle, contemporary vision.
Likewise the Mozart Sonata for Piano and Violin in E minor, played
with sister Lucine, two years his senior. The two frequently perform
together, and have a perfect awareness of the balance between their
two instruments, subtly enhancing each other’s performance, although
Lucine sometimes overeggs the rubato, impeding the forward momentum.

But Sergey did not seem quite comfortable in the Brahms or Debussy
Sonatas. There were delightful moments in both, but the central
fantasque of the Debussy didn’t quite deliver fantasy and Khachatryan
seemed unsure of its direction.

The Globe and Mail
Sept 6 2004

Classic match-up is set

Venus Williams meets Lindsay Davenport, while Agassi-Federer showdown
looms

By TOM TEBBUTT

NEW YORK — Week two of the U.S. Open begins today with the classic
match-up of Venus Williams against Lindsay Davenport and the strong
possibility of an Andre Agassi-Roger Federer blockbuster looming for
Wednesday night.

After their wins on Saturday, Williams and Davenport will play this
afternoon for the 25th time. Their career head-to-head competition is
deadlocked at 12-12. Williams returned to action at the Australian
Open in January after six months out with an abdominal strain.

Then she suffered a bad ankle sprain before the French Open and a
wrist problem this summer.

“I’m just now starting to get healthy,” she said on Saturday after
beating Chanda Rubin. Ranked No. 12, Williams, 24, resents that
injuries have made her vulnerable and implied that she had no choice
but to play the Athens Olympics, where she lost to Mary Pierce.

“It’s a terrible thing,” she said of her current status. “I mean, I’m
a former No. 1, Grand Slam champion. I’m Venus Williams. People come
out and start to think that they can win because I’m not on top. If
I’m playing well, normally I’m going to be in the winner’s circle.”

Davenport, 28, has had her injuries woes as well — right knee
surgery in 2002, toe surgery last October and continuing knee
cartilage degeneration — but is on a roll. She has won four
tournaments and 22 matches in a row as she winds down a career that
could be in its final few months.

“There’s not a lot of pressure,” she said of today’s showdown. “Maybe
that’s because I feel I played so well all summer. I just have a
belief in myself.”

That showed on Saturday when she coolly saved two set points in the
tiebreaker of a tense 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 win over red-hot Elena Bovina of
Russia.

The women’s event lost Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova on Saturday
when her shortcomings on hard courts were exposed in a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
loss to Pierce.

The 17-year-old Russian does not get the rewards for her power play
on hard courts that she does on grass and does not make any
adjustment to compensate.

Her loss removed a possible quarter-final match-up with top seed
Justine Henin-Hardenne, but the highly anticipated Jennifer
Capriati-Serena Williams quarter-final did materialize yesterday when
Capriati defeated Ai Sugiyama 7-5, 6-2 and Williams downed Patty
Schnyder 6-4, 6-2.

It will be their third consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final —
Capriati winning at Roland Garros and Williams at Wimbledon.

Last night No. 2 seed Amélie Mauresmo defeated Italian Francesca
Schiavone 6-4, 6-2 and will next meet Elena Dementieva.

In men’s action, Andy Roddick showed form worthy of a defending
champion, hitting 21 aces and no double faults in the 6-1, 6-3, 6-3
dismantling of Guillermo Canas of Argentina and Lleyton Hewitt ousted
Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.

Tommy Haas, after missing 15 months after two operations on his right
shoulder, continued an impressive 2004 campaign by beating Ricardo
Mello of Brazil 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.

As a result of their victories on Saturday, Federer and Agassi are
destined for a quarter-final confrontation.

Today, Federer will take on Andrei Pavel, whom he has defeated seven
times in a row (four in 2004), while Agassi will plays his pal Sargis
Sargsian, with whom he shares Armenian ancestry.

He is 5-0 against Sargsian.

In doubles yesterday, No. 3 seeds Daniel Nestor of Toronto and Mark
Knowles of the Bahamas reached the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-1 win
over Americans Justin Gimelstob and Graydon Oliver.

“It’s always important in a match like that with a rowdy crowd
[Gimelstob is from nearby New Jersey] to get off to a good start,”
Nestor said.

That was on the Grandstand.

Later, in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, supermodel Naomi Campbell watched
Serena Williams, who wore a relatively modest black, silver-studded
dress. Campbell told a CBS interviewer that she liked the Williams
sisters’ fashion sense, proclaiming them “bold and interesting. I
love their looks.”

“She’s a really good friend of myself and my sisters,” Serena said.

On a more serious matter, Williams revealed that three doctors had
recommended she not play the U.S. Open because of the problem with
her left knee.

Explaining her participation, she said jokingly: “I became a doctor
just recently. I took my own doctor’s advice.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PHILIP NOUBEL SPEAKS ON JAVAKHK

A1 Plus | 18:47:11 | 06-09-2004 | Social |

Philip Noubel, Belgian International Crisis Group /ICG/ senior analyst,
speaking at a seminar held Sunday in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia, raised an
issue of Armenians living in Javakhk, Georgia.

Armenians there feel themselves as persons of secondary importance,
he noted.

One of Javakhk journalists present at the seminar told Noubel “when
Armenians speak about sovereignty they mean self-governing but
Georgians take that as separatism”.

Noubel said, in his opinion, Tbilisi doesn’t care about Javakhk.

Chechnya: Why Putin is implacable
By Paul Reynolds, BBC News Online world affairs correspondent

BBC News, UK
Sept 6 2004

President Putin has drawn a line in the mountains of the North Caucasus
beyond which Russia will not withdraw.

Putin under pressure but not compromising

His insistence that there can be no surrender to demands for
independence for Chechnya is based on a number of factors which
include:

a fear of further chaos on Russia’s borders in the region

a feeling that Russia must not make any further territorial concessions
anywhere

a belief that the Chechens were offered and threw away the chance of
responsible independence before. Mr Putin has also added into this
complex mix the spectre of international (by which he means Islamic)
terrorism and an accusation that unnamed foreign countries want to
break bits off Russia.

It must also not be forgotten that he has staked his own reputation
on his policy and that therefore he is reluctant to change it.

Russian policy can be grouped under the following headings:

Geo-political

The argument is that if Chechnya, a troublesome republic on Russia’s
southern border, broke away it could provoke demands for independence
elsewhere in the region.

Chechnya has to its east the Russian republic of Dagestan which
is multi-ethnic and where there has been unrest between some of
its peoples.

To its west is Ingushetia, to which Chechnya was once joined and
which is largely Islamic. The Ingush in turn have fought with the
North Ossetians who are Orthodox Christians and whose children were
the victims in Beslan.

And all this is close to the energy-rich Caspian Sea and on Russia’s
southern flank.

Terrorism

The Russian fear is that terrorists have taken over the Chechen
opposition and that if Chechnya becomes independent, they will
take over Chechnya as well. They might then begin to spread their
influence outwards.

Mr Putin has alluded to Russian claims that Islamic terrorism is
linked to the attack on the school and other incidents.

He implies that Islamic terrorism not Chechen nationalism is the
real enemy.

Economic

An oil pipeline from Azerbaijan used to run through Chechnya, but it
was by-passed after earlier fighting and now goes through Dagestan.

There is oil and gas to be developed in the Caspian Sea and Russia
wants a stable area through which to pass supplies.

Territorial integrity

Mr Putin spoke nostalgically in his address to Russia after the
Beslan tragedy about the days when the borders of the Soviet Union
were protected.

He and others regret the loss of so much territory in the break-up
of the Soviet Union and want to stop any further territorial loss.

Necessity

The Russian president argues that after 1997, when then President
Yeltsin gave Chechnya autonomy, with independence to be discussed
later, the Chechens responded by failing to develop a stable republic.

In August 1999, radicals led by the man believed to be behind the
school siege, Shamil Basayev, invaded neighbouring Dagestan.

Putin does have a geo-political case. It is open to question though
whether his chosen means have the slightest likelihood of dealing
with the problem

Professor Margot Light, LSE Chechens were blamed for blowing up Russian
civilian targets, including apartment buildings in Moscow. Mr Putin
led the move to re-invade Chechnya.

Elections were held there recently so he claims that he has done all
he can and that his present policy is therefore one of necessity.

Western Russia watchers, like Western governments, have some sympathy
for the Russian dilemma but many doubt if Mr Putin’s approach is the
right one.

Professor Margot Light of the London School of Economics said:
“Putin does have a geo-political case. It is open to question though
whether his chosen means have the slightest likelihood of dealing
with the problem.

“He has to start talking to the people he says he will not talk
to, like Aslan Mashkadov who was the Chechen president until the
99 invasion.

“Mr Putin’s reputation is on the line. It is extremely useful to argue
that this is international terrorism and that outside countries are
involved. Frankly this is rubbish. Any involvement by al-Qaeda to
train or fund the Chechens post-dates the conflict.”

Professor Light, however, also suggested that Russian fears of chaos
on its border in that region could be exaggerated.

“Russia could afford the loss of Chechnya. Talk of other republics
leaving the federation is far from the truth,” she said.

Nicholas Redman, Russia analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in
London commented: “Oil is an issue but it is not the main issue. If
there was oil Russia would still be determined to hang on.

“The North Caucasus was a hard-won region and Russia sees itself as a
civilising influence there. The loss of other republics in the area,
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, makes it even more important that
it should lose no more.

‘Where do you stop?’

“There is a just a fear that if you unravel, where do you stop.

“The problem is that Putin’s tactics have to be questioned. Russian
policy has encouraged divisions among the Chechens and there is nobody
who can glue the factions together.”

Western governments have not so publicly questioned Mr Putin’s
policies. Even a hint of criticism by the Dutch government (currently
holding the European Union presidency) provoked outrage in Moscow.

The West has generally left Moscow to its own devices in Chechnya
with occasional and ineffective mutterings about human rights.

This is despite a private view among some Western diplomats that
Russia, having lost so much of the old Soviet Union, would not be
affected by the loss of Chechnya.

The reality is that many western governments have their own war against
terrorism to fight and do not want to jeopardise Russian cooperation
by making adverse comments about Chechnya.

It all adds up to a Putin policy of, for the moment, no change.