What I saw horrified me

Lord Judd

Russia has been involved in a long and bloody conflict with Chechnya since it declared independence in 1991.

In March this year the commander of the Russian forces in Chechnya signed a decree to end the abuse by soldiers against Chechen civilians.

But said Lord Judd: "I am exasperated by the way in which they've failed to investigate and pursue the abuses which have taken place and the way in which the army still on occasion takes indiscriminate and disproportionate action."

Horrified

Lord Judd said that the solution to the conflict between Chechnya and Russia must be a political one - and defended his decision not to support tougher sanctions.

"We can't impose a solution from the outside. The solution has be found by Russia and the Chechens. We must be working with people who are in the Russian political system to build up that demand for change."

Lord Judd went on to say that he had been "very disappointed" when in April 2000 Tony Blair had attended the opera in St Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At the same time, Lord Judd became one of the first politicians outside Russia to visit the Chechen capital Grozny - which had been the location of some of the most bloody fighting between Russia and the Chechen rebels.

He said: "What I saw horrified me. Here was the systematic destruction of a city in Europe in a country which claimed membership of the Council of Europe. I was appalled.

He added: "I was very disappointed because I was trying to start this as a serious business and there was Tony at the Opera in St Petersburg. It was not a good moment."

You can watch the HARDtalk interview in full at the following times:

BBC News 24 (times shown in GMT)
2 May 0430, repeated 2230

BBC World (times shown in GMT)
2 May 0430, repeated 1130, 1630, 1930, 0030