Official Says Chechnya Pipeline Not Sabotaged

28 January 2006 -- Chechnya's acting Prime Minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, today denied reports that a damaged pipeline was the work of terrorists.

The pipeline ruptured on 26 January near the town of Gudermes, leaving the districts of Shali and Kurchaloi, parts of the capital Grozny, and the towns of Argun and Khankala without gas supplies.

Kadyrov said that investigators have not yet made a final report, but that the evidence points toward a technical failure and not to "external influences."

Chechen Interior Ministry chief of staff Akhmed Dakayev today denied reports from gas company Chechengazprom that its specialists had discovered that the pipeline had been tampered with.

Restoration work on the pipeline is complete and officials have said that the gas supply will resume later today.

(ITAR-TASS, Interfax)