MOSCOW — Russian officials reacted coolly Wednesday to calls from the United Nations for an investigation into alleged abuses by Russian troops in Chechnya, saying that federal troops rarely commit crimes.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson urged Moscow to set up a commission to look into allegations that Russian troops raped, executed and tortured Chechens. She made the call Tuesday after a brief visit to Chechnya.
Russia's human rights envoy for Chechnya said Wednesday that a commission may be set up but claimed there was not much to investigate.
"As events have shown, crimes by servicemen in Chechnya are more an exception than a rule," said Vladimir Kalamanov, according to the Interfax news agency.
Kalamanov said any commission would have to spend more time investigating rebel Chechen leaders, who ruled during the rash of kidnappings, killings and other violence in Chechnya that broke out after Russian troops lost a 1994-96 war.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday he believed Russia would agree to an official investigation. Robinson "was reasonably hopeful that her views will be taken on board by the Russian government," Annan said in Rome.
Moscow is under increasing international pressure to investigate allegations of widespread human rights violations by Russian forces. Russia denies the charges, saying it is doing what is necessary to re-establish control over Chechnya and is not breaking any international laws.
The Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights watchdog, was scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to suspend Russia over the allegations.
Russia's human rights commissioner, Oleg Mironov, said it was highly unlikely that the council would suspend Russia, a move that he said would leave it unable to influence Moscow.
"The delegates . . . will hardly deprive themselves of an opportunity to analyze and control the human rights situation in Russia," he said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
Russian forces began their campaign in Chechnya in September, after Chechnya-based militants invaded the neighboring republic of Dagestan. Russia also blames the rebels for a series of apartment bombings that killed about 300 people in September.