JOURNALIST POLITKOVSKAYA LIES








MOSCOW, March 2. /RIA Novosti/. A check-up conducted in a regiment stationed in Khatun has not verified allegations that there were earth pits for prisoners of war, the president's human rights envoy to Chechnya Vladimir Kalamanov said at a press-conference in the Russian Informational Centre. These allegations were spread by Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, specialising, according to Kalamanov, in all manner of sensations.


	Kalamanov reported that he, accompanied by Chechnya's prosecutor-general Vsevolod Chernov, the president's deputy representative in the Southern district, Nikolai Britvin, and Security Council secretary Dudaev from the Chechen administration, visited the two regiments mentioned by Politkovskaya. Kalamanov added that he had been led along the same route as Politkovskaya and in company of the same officer she had had beside her.


	He was shown five hollows with no signs of earth filling. The first one, said Kalamanov, was meant for a tank, the second which contained water for bathing and the third was used as a dust-bin. Besides, there were two dug-outs for protecting the personnel against fire. According to Kalamanov, these pits are very similar to those described by Politkovskaya in her article.