Putin Says Georgia Starts to Think on Combating Terrorism

(Tbilisi, Civil Georgia, August 5, 2002) – Detention of the Chechen fighters is the “first sign that the Georgian authorities think over combating international terrorism,” Russian President Vladimer Putin stated at the meeting with the government members on August 5.

Russian President said that seriousness of Georgian government’s intention to fight against terrorists would depend on how “fast the detained Russian bandits [Chechen fighters] would be placed in Lefortovo jail [in Moscow].”

Putin said that the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office would appeal to the Georgian law enforcers with the request to extradite Chechen fighters.

“Georgian side has no reason to reject our request,” Vladimer Ustinov Russian Chief Prosecutor told the reports today, Russian media sources report.