Duma okays amnesty to Chechen guerrillas

President Vladimir Putin has pinned hopes on the amnesty as a means of putting an end to a campaign that he started as prime minister in October 1999 and the Kremlin immediately hailed the outcome.

"The amnesty underlines the fact that the process of a political resolution to the conflict is irreversible," said Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Putin's top aide on Chechen affairs.

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The State Duma lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved the amnesty by a 352-25 vote. Only by the liberal opposition Yabloko faction and the ultranationalist LDPR group run by Vladimir Zhirinovsky were opposed.

"The amnesty is a very serious instrument which should be used at the right time," said Yabloko's Sergei Mitrokhin.

He argued that the amnesty was a Kremlin public relations stunt that would achieve little because the two sides were not yet even close to approaching the negotiating table for a true political resolution to the war.

"If there was an active political process taking place as well, it would be needed," he said.

"But at the moment, there is a deadlock, escalating violence and terrorist acts. In such a situation, the amnesty becomes a pure PR stunt."

Meanwhile reflecting the view of Russian nationalists, Zhirinovsky called the amnesty "shameful" and a "crime for the memory of our soldiers."

"You are covering the country in blood," Zhirinovsky told his fellow lawmakers before the vote.

The amnesty covers Chechen rebels but not Arab mercenaries who have joined the current campaign and applies to all conflicts in the turbulent republic over the past decade.

But few observers believe that Chechens will give themselves up in any large number since it would then be up to Russian courts to decide if the amnesty should be applied and guerrillas who have committed serious crimes are not eligible.