OSCE MISSION IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS WAS NOT EFFECTIVE

MUNICH, February 13 (RIA Novosti) - "We believe that the OSCE mission was not effective. We have evidence that terrorists crossed Russian borders while the mission was under way," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov stated during the Conference on security policy in Munich.

At the same time, he underlined that Russia was not against joint efforts in the Caucasus and joint monitoring of the borders.

The Russian defense minister also attracted attention of the participants of the conference in Munich to the fact that some European countries issued visas to terrorists.

"We are advised to disregard the fact that some European countries accept and hide international terrorists and issue visas to them without any complications," the minister stated.

"We consider such development to be rather strange and unacceptable," Mr. Ivanov stressed.

The minister also told the participants of the conference that often the global community unreasonably "calls Chechen terrorists 'rebels'."

Mr. Ivanov presented data gathered by Russian security-related services indicating that currently about 150-200 foreign mercenaries operate on the territory of the North Caucasus.