Chechens Bring Bodies To Meeting

The Chechen delegation broke off peace negotiations with Russian officials on Friday to protest the killing of seven civilians, including two little girls and an old man, by men dressed in Russian uniforms.

The Russian military denied involvement in the killings and said that they were intended to derail the peace talks, which are the most serious effort so far to end the war in the breakaway region in southern Russia.

“It’s not a problem in Chechnya to get Russian military uniforms or arms,” a Russian military official told the Interfax news agency.

Chechen fighters brought the bloody corpses in a truck to the site of the talks, the headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Grozny, and held a passionate rally there.

Usman Imayev, the head of the Chechen team, held up the body of a 2-year-old girl and told the emotional crowd, “Every drop of Chechen blood will be avenged.”