President Dmitry Medvedev is due to meet...

"The decision has been made. At my last meeting with the president on March 30, we focused on this. The meeting will be held in the second half of May," Ella Pamfilova told journalists at a press conference at RIA Novosti on Friday.

The meeting is in line with escalating problems threatening the activity of human rights organizations in the North Caucasus, she said. The forum will be organized by the Civil Society Institution and Human Rights Council, which she chairs.

Pamfilova said corruption, mainly supported by officials from Moscow, is one of the main problems in the region which needs to be tackled by the Russian security services.

"We will never eliminate corruption in the North Caucasus if large amounts of money sent there are being "skimmed" by officials in Moscow," she said.

Russia"s mainly Muslim North Caucasus republics, especially Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, have seen an upsurge of militant violence lately, with frequent attacks on

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