As the Spanish diplomat walked through Grozny he saw the result of Russia's campaign against Chechnya - street after street of bomb damaged buildings. Although the Russians now control Grozny, fighting is continuing in the breakaway republic's southern mountains. His visit comes amid strong Western pressure on Russia to allow independent investigators into Chechnya to probe allegations of human rights abuses. Rights probe On Sunday, Mr Gil-Robles, the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, heard accounts of alleged atrocities during a visit to refugee camps in neighbouring Ingushetia. Reports of atrocities by Russian troops, which the army has consistently denied, have been mounting in recent weeks.
Many refugees claim that soldiers have summarily executed civilians and tortured rebel fighters.
The apparent Russian concession to the Council of Europe is a measure of Moscow's embarrassment over the continuing criticism. The latest accusation came on Saturday, when a US human rights group said it had medical evidence that federal troops had tortured Chechen civilians. Residents queue for free food handouts in the shattered capital Preliminary results of a random survey of refugees by Physicians for Human Rights revealed that Chechen civilians had systematically faced summary executions, illegal detention or torture, the group said. Moscow has also faced a barrage of criticism following the broadcast of a video last week showing Russian soldiers piling bodies of bound Chechen men into a mass grave. However, Russian officials said the film was not proof of atrocities, but merely depicted rebels killed in fighting being temporarily buried for possible later identification.