Persoverzicht Tsjetsjenië - februari 2007

• 2007-03-01
• Europa in de wereld

2 februari 2007

- Deputy Interior Minister on situation in N. Caucasus: In an interview with Rossiyskaya gazeta, Deputy Interior Minister Arkady Yedelev said about 450 militants, including foreign mercenaries, are still operating in Chechnya. He also announced that last year, 1,171 bandits were captured and 174 “were neutralized”. (RG)

5 februari 2007

- Operation in Ingushetia; attempt on Dagestani Interior Minister’s life: (i) Media report on the outburst of violence in the Northern Caucasus over the weekend. Four militants were killed in an operation on Saturday in the Ingush town of Malgobek as police stormed an apartment that had been seized by the militants. (ii) A police officer was shot dead and two others were killed in an attempt to kill Dagestani Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov yesterday in Makhachkala. Press notes that this was the third attempt on his life. (iii) Chechen police said they had killed four militants in a security operation on Saturday in Chechnya. (Gazeta, Interfax, Kommersant, NG, Novye Izvestia, RG, VN)

7 februari 2007

- Chechen President may resign before his term expires: According to sources cited by Izvestia, Chechen President Alu Alkhanov may resign in the nearest future before his term of office expires. (Izvestia)



- Sweden may extradite suspect in Chechnya kidnapping case: Kommersant refers to Swedish Prosecutor General, Fredrik Wersall, who did not rule out that Sweden may extradite to Russia Magomed Uspayev, a Russian citizen who had been accused of being involved in the kidnapping in Chechnya of a photographer for the news agency ITAR-TASS. (Kommersant)

8 februari 2007

- Chechnya’s district official killed in attack: (i) Mairbek Murdagaliyev, the deputy head of the administration of Chechnya’s Vedeno district, died of wounds at a hospital after an attempt on his life yesterday. (ii) Press reports that the Federal Security Service has detained in Chechnya a man suspected of being involved in planning a contract killing of a Saratov businessman at the order of Chechen separatist leaders’ emissaries. (Interfax, Izvestia, Kommersant, Gazeta, VN)

- Chechen PM wins libel suit against Kommersant: A Moscow court ruled that a July publication in Kommersant “had libelled” Chechen PM Ramzan Kadyrov and ordered Kommersant to pay Kadyrov 10,000 roubles (around $380) in compensation for moral damage. (Interfax, Lenta.ru, MT)

9 februari 2007

- Chechen security council chief resigns: According to media reports, the head of the Chechen Security Council, German Vok, and three other officials have submitted their resignations. Observers note that these officials are members of Chechen President Alu Alkhanov’s ‘team’, adding that their resignation would be followed by the resignation of Alkhanov and pave the way for Chechen PM Ramzan Kadyrov to assume Presidency in Chechnya. (Kommersant, MN, MT, NG, Trud, VN)

13 februari 2007

- Chechen President denies claims on his resignation: Izvestia cites Chechen President Alu Alkhanov, who has dismissed claims about his plans to resign. The statement was made amid suggestions that Alkhanov may resign and PM Ramzan Kadyrov could become Chechen President. At the same time, Alkhanov admitted the existence of conflicts in the Chechen leadership. (Izvestia, VN)

14 februari 2007

- Four militants, two police killed in Chechnya: (i) According to media reports, four militants and two police officers were killed in an operation yesterday in Chechnya’s Gudermes district. (ii) The head of the Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev, announced that 546 militants had surrendered during the amnesty in the Northern Caucasus that expired on 15 January. The National Anti-terrorism Committee does not rule out that another amnesty might be considered for the Northern Caucasus. (Gazeta, Interfax, Kommersant, MT, NG)

- Officers accused of murdering Chechnya residents released: The North Caucasus district military court yesterday released under a written undertaking not to leave the place interior troops officers, Yevgeny Khudyakov and Sergey Arakcheyev, who are accused of murdering three civilians in Chechnya. (Kommersant)

15 februari 2007

- Chechen PM proposes HR conference in Grozny: (i) Novaya gazeta reports that Chechen PM Ramzan Kadyrov plans to organise on 1 March in Grozny a human rights conference with the participation of leading human rights advocates. The daily cites the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, saying she would not take part in the conference. (ii) Vremya novostei reports about a conflict between Chechnya’s President Alu Alkhanov and PM Kadyrov. The daily recalls that in his recent radio interview, Chechen Security Council’s chief, German Vok, has sharply criticised the Chechen PM. (Novaya gazeta, VN)

- Jury selection in Klebnikov retrial: The Moscow Times reports that jury selection should begin today in the retrial of two Chechens accused of murdering the editor of the Russian edition of Forbes, Paul Klebnikov. (MT)

16 februari 2007

- Chechen President appointed Deputy Justice Minister: President Putin has signed a decree appointing Chechen President Alu Alkhanov Deputy Justice Minister, thus having satisfied “Alkhanov’s request for a different position”. Putin has signed another decree appointing Chechen PM Ramzan Kadyrov Chechnya’s acting President. Kadyrov, 30, is the youngest head of a Russian region. Some observers hope that the move will help ease tensions in Chechnya. Putin’s advisor Aslambek Aslakhanov expressed the view that the Chechen Parliament would back Kadyrov if Putin nominated him for Chechen President. (Interfax, Kommersant, RG, VN)

- Two militants killed in Chechnya: Two militants were reportedly killed and one detained in an operation yesterday in Grozny. Chechen police said one of the killed militants was a so called emir of a district in Grozny. Two police were wounded in the operation. Chief of the Chechen riot police force (OMON), Magomed Daudov, said since January, Chechen OMON police have killed 8 militants. (Interfax, VN)

- Refugee camp closed in Chechnya: Chechen authorities have closed a refugee camp in Grozny. Families who lived in the camp had been re-housed. According to the press, there are currently some 57,000 refugees in Chechnya. (Interfax, MT)

- Forbes Russia editor murder retrial put off: A retrial of two Chechens accused of murdering Paul Klebnikov, the editor of the Russian edition of Forbes, has been put off until next month due to the absence of the suspects in the courtroom. (Kommersant, MT, NG, RIAN)

19 februari 2007

- United Russia ready to back Kadyrov as Chechen President: Speaker of the State Duma and United Russia leader, Boris Gryzlov, has not ruled out that United Russia will support Ramzan Kadyrov as a candidate for Chechen President. Presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, told the press that he will hold consultations on candidates with Chechen authorities. (Interfax, Izvestia, Kommersant, MT)

20 februari 2007

- Chechnya’s economic development discussed: Dailies report on a roundtable discussion yesterday in Grozny of the economic development and reconstruction of Chechnya. Chechnya’s acting President Ramzan Kadyrov is quoted as stating that Chechnya’s natural resources, first of all oil, “must be used to develop Chechnya”. He said that Chechnya has opportunities to become a donor region and added that there is no need to conclude a power-sharing agreement between the federal Government and Chechen authorities. Vremya novostei does not rule out that Kadyrov has got the presidential post in exchange for his refusal from claims for Chechnya’s oil. Electronic media today cite Kadyrov as calling Chechnya “the quietest region in Russia”. (Gazeta, Interfax, Izvestia, Kommersant, Novye Izvestia, VN)

21 februari 2007

- Residents of Chechen village lose suit vs. Defence Ministry: A Moscow court has rejected a 123 million rouble (some $4.7 million) claim for damages sought by 41 residents of the Chechen village Borozdinovskaya against the Defence Ministry over a brutal raid conducted by the Ministry’s Vostok (‘East’) battalion in 2005. One resident was killed and eleven others went missing during the raid. (Gazeta, Interfax, RIAN)

- Court denies ex-colonel Budanov’s parole request: A court has denied a parole request from former colonel Yury Budanov, convicted of kidnapping and murdering a Chechen girl. Budanov had been sentenced to 10 years in prison and stripped of his rank and decorations. (Gazeta, Kommersant, MT, VN)

22 februari 2007

- Kadyrov among candidates for Chechnya’s President: Yesterday in Grozny, Presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, said he would submit to President Putin three candidates for the post of Chechen President. Acting Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov is among the nominees. Kommersant remarks that the selection of the candidates was a formality as the alternative candidates cannot compete with Ramzan Kadyrov. (Interfax, Izvestia, Kommersant, RG, RIAN, VN)

- HR activists will not participate in Grozny conference: A number of human rights groups, including the Moscow Helsinki Group, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, said they would not participate in a conference on human rights organised by acting Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov on 1 March in Grozny. In a statement, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Alexeyeva, leader of the For Human Rights movement, Ponomaryov, and others stressed that Chechnya “remains a place of gross violations of human rights”. (Gazeta, Interfax)

26 februari 2007

- Four militants killed in Dagestan operation; five Chechen policemen die: (i) According to media reports, four suspected militants were killed in a special operation on Saturday in Dagestan’s Kizlyar district. Dagestani police said the killed militants were members of a gang involved in “up to 50 terrorism-related crimes in Chechnya”. (ii) Five policemen were reportedly killed in an explosion at a Chechen Interior Ministry base in Chechnya’s Gudermes district last Friday. (Gazeta, Interfax, Kommersant, MT, NG)

27 februari 2007

- The Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg, has arrived in Chechnya for a three-day visit.

28 februari 2007

- CoE HR Commissioner visits Chechnya: Meeting acting Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov yesterday in Grozny, the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg expressed concern over reported tortures in Chechnya. Kadyrov, in turn, said Chechen authorities are working on the problems of human rights violations and kidnappings in Chechnya. (Interfax, Kommersant, RG)