GROZNY, Russia, Apr 3: Russian officials refused to take UN human rights chief Mary Robinson to any of the five detention centres she had asked to see during a brief trip to war-torn Chechnya, reports AFP.

Instead the commissioner was taken to a military headquarters which had only two small cells, in one of which two women were being held on suspicion of theft.

"We had requested to see detention centres and pressed to see them. We wanted to see where people were held, where we knew from numerous reports they were being held," Robinson told Journalists in neighbouring Dagestan.

"They could have had any selection they wished and that was what we were shown. I draw from that they were not open to us seeing a wider range of detention centres." said Robinson, the most senior international official to visit Chechnya since

Russia launched its assault in September.

"I found it ironic that the place that they took us to had two middle-aged women accused of looting, because looting is one of the serious allegations made by numerous witnesses against those in uniform, she said.

The delegation had asked to see the PAP-1 and PAP-5 detention centres in a car factory in the Leninsky district of Grozny. The facilities were revealed last week in a critical report by Amnesty International.

Robinson asked to see PAP-1 within moments of landing at Grozny’s Severny (Sheikh Mansur) airport, a request that sparked sharp exchanges with a senior Russian army officer.

"It doesn't exist any more. Your information Is out of date. It was operating in 1996." snapped General Vakha Ibragimov We are destroying terror-

ists." he added.

A deputy prosecutor at the airport, however, appeared to contradict the assertion by telling AFP that the delegation would indeed be taken to PAP-1.

Robinson responded to Ibragimov's outburst by expressing sympathy for soldiers killed and kidnapped in Chechnya, saying: T in aware of unacceptable violence and violations by the Chechen side.

"But I m also hearing of very serious problems of human rights violations carried out by those in Russian military7 unl-fonn. in special forces uniform.

"It's very important that these be fully investigated and that those who are responsible do not have impunity." she said.

"It s also very important for the Russian army and for the way in which modern Russia as an important member of the United Nations fulfils its obligations."