Ingush President Ruslan Aushev has blamed the Russian Federation Ministry for the fact that tens of thousands of Chechen refugees on Ingush territory have not received hot food for more than two months.

Aushev stated that the distribution of hot food stopped immediately after the Federation Ministry was charged with providing the refugees with food in line with a government resolution in March.

The Ingush leader said that since that moment refugees had been given cold snacks instead of hot food. "An inspection has established that these snacks' best before date has expired and that they do not conform to quality standards," Aushev pointed out.

He described the refugees' position as "extremely difficult". Aushev said spontaneous rallies were taking place in refugee camps almost every day and dissatisfaction was increasing among people.

"We carried out an inspection and discovered strange things. The Federation Ministry signed an exclusive contract with a Moscow firm on food supplies without holding a tender and in violation of enforceable regulations," Aushev stated.

He said the food was coming into a base in Nalchik. As a result, food prices has increased by 90 per cent and it has became to expensive to provide the refugees with hot food, which is why they stopped distributing it," the president said. Aushev called on the government and the Security Council of the Russian Federation to sort out the current situation and actions of the Federation Ministry.

The Ingush leader recalled that there were over 148,000 officially-registered Chechen refugees in the republic and that more than 30,000 of them were living in camps.

"These people live in intolerable conditions: 20-25 people are living in tents designed for five or six people. They survive only thanks to aid from international organizations such as the United Nations, Medecins sans Frontieres and others," said Aushev.

He stated that the refugees were still not hastening to return to Chechnya, making their return conditional on security conditions above all. "Whatever they say, the main thing for the refugees is this, while social issues take second place," Aushev said.

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jun 15, 2001
Source: Respublika Ingushetia web site, Magas, in Russian 15 Jun 01