§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was discussed at the meeting which took place between Foreign Office officials and Granger Telecom personnel in August 1998. [66111]
§ Mr. Tony LloydForeign Office officials dealing with the kidnap of Jon James and Camilla Carr in the Russian Republic of Chechnya met two Weybridge-based Granger Telecom managers at FCO request on 21 August 1998. The Carr/James kidnap was then into its 13th month 347W Officials explained that their lengthy capacity illustrated the dangers of operating in Chechnya and asked if Granger had any information which might help to secure the release of Carr and James, given that the UK has no diplomatic representations in Chechnya. The answer was no. Granger described the terms and funding of their contract with a Chechen private company, Chechen Telecom, to establish a telecommunications infrastructure in Chechnya, and said that Chechen Telecom assumed full responsibility for the security of Granger expatriate staff in Grozny. FCO officials said that HM Government could not encourage UK humanitarian assistance or investment in Chechnya.
At the meeting FCO officials showed to Granger the FCO travel advice of 18 August 1998, which states:
We strongly advise against travel to the Chechen Republic, Ingushetia, Dagestan, North Ossetia and the Stravropol/Chechnya border, because of the unstable security situation. Visitors have been kidnapped in these areas recently".