Rights violations soar in south Russia - Amnesty

MOSCOW - Human rights violations in the Russian region of Ingushetia have increased with a surge in abductions and beatings, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the European Union to use a meeting with Russia on Friday to challenge Moscow on its human rights record, which it said was worsening.

"The Russian and Ingush authorities must not repeat mistakes made in Chechnya," Amnesty International said in a statement.

"An increasing number of enforced disappearances, abductions and other human rights violations mark the rapidly deteriorating situation in Ingushetia."

Russia's interior ministry declined to comment.

Russian federal troops have fought Chechen rebels in two wars since 1994 and the violence has spilled over into neighbouring regions. This year the focus shifted to Ingushetia, where reports of gun attacks, bombs and murders intensified.

Russia has tripled the number of soldiers stationed in Ingushetia, a small, Muslim republic of around 500,000 people near the Caucasus mountains, and fighting has subsided over the last month.

London-based Amnesty said Russia should not use illegal tactics against the rebels in the southern republic.

"The often complete disregard for the rule of law by the Russian federal forces during the conflict in Chechnya and the impunity with which they abducted, tortured and disappeared members of the local population have scarred the lives of thousands of people and undermined Russia's international standing," Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty's Europe chief, said.

"A repeat of the same tactics in Ingushetia is unacceptable."

Amnesty said its human rights worries in Ingushetia also apply to the republic's armed groups and there were reports these groups had murdered Russian families.

Human Rights Watch said Russia had become less responsive to foreign criticism of its rights record.

"As Russia has become more assertive in international affairs, thanks in part to its lock on gas exports to the European Union, it has become increasingly petulant in responding to the rare foreign expressions of concern about its worsening human rights record," the statement said.

Human Rights Watch highlighted continued rights abuses in Chechnya and the authorities' heavy-handed approach to throwing anti-government demonstrators off the streets this year.