Poland Denounces Chechen Killing
Poland on Wednesday condemned the killing of Chechen guerrilla chief Aslan Maskhadov by Russian forces as a "crime" and said it was a mistake because he was the only rebel leader able to reach peace with Moscow.
"Those who committed this murder wanted to prevent a (peaceful) agreement," foreign ministry spokesman Aleksander Checko said. "It was not only a crime but also political stupidity and a big mistake."
Poland, the biggest European Union member among the former Soviet satellites in central Europe, has long been critical of Russia's tough line in Chechnya and has sheltered some Chechen refugees from the conflict.
Russian special forces killed Maskhadov on Tuesday in a village near the Chechen capital Grozny.
Maskhadov had battled Russian troops for more than a decade but some in Russia and abroad saw him as a possible negotiator with the Russian government, which rejected his offers of talks.
"Maskhadov was the only one with whom they could talk," Checko said. "Now this option has been crossed out."
Poland's criticism contrasted with a muted response from the rest of the EU, with the bloc's executive Commission saying Brussels had no information about the circumstances of Maskhadov's death.
Relations between Russia and its former satellites in eastern Europe remain marred by distrust 15 years after communism collapsed across the region.
The new democracies in Eastern Europe view with suspicion what they see as backsliding on democracy under President Vladimir Putin and the hardening of Moscow's attitude in dealing with countries that used to be part of the Soviet empire.
Poland and other countries in the region have been in two minds in recent weeks over whether to participate in the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in Wold War Two, being held in Moscow on May 9.
For many liberation from Nazi occupation by the Red Army was the beginning of a Soviet-imposed Communist rule in which thousands were killed and sent to labour camps.
Lithuanian and Estonian presidents declined Putin's invitation to attend but Polish leader Aleksander Kwasniewski accepted despite being under strong pressure from opposition parties to follow suit.