The leadership of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria has more than once warned Russia and the international community that the flames of war cannot be contained in Chechnya for long, the statement reads. We can see the hostilities now spreading to Ingushetia as well. No-one can guarantee that tomorrow the war will not spread to other parts of the Caucasus and elsewhere in Russia if the Kremlin continues to follow its blind suicidal policy, attracted by the desire to resolve by force the problems which could naturally be settled only by peaceful political means, the separatists claim.

We can say confidently that the war in Ingushetia started back at a time when the Kremlin ousted President [Ruslan] Aushev and replaced him with its humble protege [Murat] Zyazikov, a carrier Chekist. Ever since then Ingushetia has been an area of the bloody activities of Russian death squads. Killings, kidnappings, terror against Chechen refugees and total lawlessness have become a daily routine in Ingushetia, as has the growing resistance to the unbearable arbitrariness that reigns in the region. Finally, public indignation has reached breaking point and grown into an armed rebellion.