RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL DECREE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TALEBAN DESTRUCTION OF CULTURAL MONUMENTS








MOSCOW, MARCH 11, 2001 /FROM A RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT/ -- The decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin "On measures to implement Security Council resolution 1333 of December 19, 2000" has nothing to do with the destruction by the Taleban of pre-Islamic cultural monuments on the Taleban-controlled territory of Afghanistan.


	


	Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ordzhonikidze said this on Sunday.


	


	In his words, the document was adopted with regard to the Taleban who refuse to enter into peace negotiations and stabilise the situation inside Afghanistan and those countries which render direct or indirect assistance to the Taleban movement.


	


	Under the UN sanction resolutions, all the UN member-states are to comply with the resolutions by bringing the domestic legislation in line with the resolutions' guidelines. Therefore, Russia like other countries had to take domestic legislative steps in keeping with the resolution. "This is what the Russian president did on March 10 when he signed a decree to the effect," said the deputy foreign minister. In other words, he said, this is a routine standard sanction procedure which is put into practice by all states through their domestic decrees and orders.


	


	Ordzhonikidze noted that the Russian side was in no contact with the Taleban, there were no representations of the Taleban movement on the Russian territory, and the Arian Afghan airlines was no longer operating.