Persoverzicht Tsjetsjenië - december 2009

• 2010-01-11
• Europa in de wereld

Persoverzicht Tsjetsjenië - december 2009

2 december 2009

Nevsky Express bombing probe; Chechen separatists claim responsibility for attack: According to media reports, the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin was hospitalized with concussion after he was injured in a second explosion on Saturday at the site of the bombing of the Nevsky Express train. In an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Bastrykin said that the second blast might have been aimed directly at investigators working at the crime scene, and noted that such tactics is used by terrorists in the Northern Caucasus. Electronic media today cite a statement by Chechen separatists who claimed responsibility for the train bombing at an “order by Doku Umarov”. (Gazeta, Interfax, Kommersant, Lenta.ru, MT, RG, VN)

Investigators report on Chechen rights activist Sadulayeva murder case: The head of the Investigative Committee’s Chechen department, Viktor Ledenyov, announced on Tuesday that the investigation came to the conclusion that the murder in August in Grozny of Chechen rights activist Zarema Sadulayeva was not related to her activities. According to Ledenyov, Sadulayeva was not the target as the gunmen planned to kill her husband, Alik Dzhabrailov, who had been convicted for his membership of illegal armed groups. The investigator also said that the killings of Sadulayeva and Dzhabrailov were presumably perpetrated by “members of illegal armed groups with the purpose to destabilize the situation in Chechnya”. Meanwhile, some human rights defenders deplored the results of the investigation. (Interfax, Izvestia)

3 december 2009

Nevsky Express bombing probe: Meeting First Deputy PM Viktor Zubkov, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov and the head of the Investigative Committee within the Prosecutor General’s Office Alexander Bastrykin yesterday at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, President Medvedev stated that the 27 November bombing of the Nevsky Express train that killed at least 26 people must be solved and announced that he has signed an order on preventing terror attacks on railways and setting a deadline for investigating terror attacks. Bastrykin said that about 400 witnesses have been questioned in connection with the train bombing, adding that “tangible results” of the investigation will be revealed in 10-12 days. Rallies against terrorism, organised by United Russia, Young Guard and trade unions, were held yesterday in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Vremya novostei mentions calls by some participants of the rallies to preserve the death penalty for terrorism-related crimes. In the meantime, the press reports that Chechen separatists claimed responsibility for the Nevsky Express bombing as part of a broader strategy announced earlier this year by separatist leader Doku Umarov, as a separatist web site said in a statement on Wednesday. Umarov notably called to move terrorist attacks from the Northern Caucasus to the rest of Russia. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and the Chechen Interior Ministry, however, voiced doubts that the attack on the Nevsky Express train was carried out on an order by Doku Umarov. (Gazeta, Izvestia, Kommersant, MT, RG, RIAN, VN)

4 december 2009

Putin holds call-in session, says has no plans to quit politics:In his call-in session on Thursday, PM Vladimir Putin said he had no plans to quit politics but noted that he would make a decision on whether he would run for the Presidency in 2012 on the basis of the economic development. During the call-in session, which lasted for four hours and one minute, Putin answered more than 80 questions. The duration of the call-in session hit a record high. Vremya novostei writes in a comment that Putin did not make any sensations statements, but showed his “ability to calm the population”. Vedomosti says the big number of questions could be explained by Putin’s high popularity. Most of the questions concerned the economic situation. Putin said inter alia that “the peak of the crisis has passed, but the Russian and global economies remain turbulent”. He outlined accession to the WTO as Russia’s strategic goal, but noted that some countries, including the US, are “impeding our admission”. Putin paid special attention to relations with Belarus, saying that Minsk has received a significant amount of Russian loans. He also dismissed allegations that he supported Yulia Tymoshenko in Ukraine’s Presidential election. Answering the first question about last week’s bombing of the Nevsky Express train, Putin said that a threat of terrorism has not yet been fully eliminated in Russia. Addressing the situation in the Northern Caucasus, he said that a new war would not start in the region. Putin answered questions on military reform and the Interior Ministry, and also offered his vision of Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s regime. He said that there were achievements during this period, but stressed that Stalin’s method of ruling is “unacceptable” and spoke of “massive crimes” against citizens. Putin said that funds collected in the sale of Yukos’ assets had been spent by the Government for the housing and public utilities fund. (All media; see also economic headlines)

Court annuls results of Derbent mayoral elections: (i) Dailies, including Kommersant in a front-page article, report that the Derben city court has annulled the results of the 11 October mayoral elections in Derbent. According to the official results, United Russia candidate and incumbent mayor Felix Kaziakhmedov has won the elections. Experts, contacted by Kommersnt, view the court ruling as unprecedented for the Northern Caucasus. (ii) The press reports on new attacks on police in Dagestan. Two traffic policemen were killed in an attack yesterday in the republic. One civilian was killed and four police officers were inured in an attack on a café in Khasavyurt on Friday morning. (Interfax, Kommersant, RG, RIAN, VN)

7 december 2009

Ingushetia, Chechnya: (i) Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has dismissed the head of his administration, Vladimir Borshchov, for ‘health reasons’. Kommersant argues, however, that Borshchov’s conflict with Yevkurov might be behind the dismissal. (ii) A senior official at the Ingush Emergency Situations Ministry was killed in Malgobek on Friday. (iii) The Moscow Times (Reuters) reports that the mother of Zarema Gaisanova, who worked for the Danish Refugee Council in Grozny, has accused local authorities of kidnapping her daughter. (iv) RBK daily reports on the work to draft a development strategy for Chechnya until 2020. The daily writes that the strategy can cost RUR180 billion (about €4 billion). (Kommersant, MT, RBK daily)

10 december 2009

Ingush leader reshuffles his team: Kommersant reports on the recent dismissal by Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov of the head of his administration, Vladimir Borshchev. The daily does not exclude that Yevkurov may offer this post to former Ingush Interior Minister Ruslan Meiriyev who was fired by President Medvedev following an August terrorist attack near the Nazran police department. In the meantime, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports on potential candidates for the post of official in charge of the Northern Caucasus and names Deputy PM Sergey Ivanov among the candidates. In his state-of-the-nation address last month, President Medvedev proposed that an official responsible for the situation in the Northern Caucasus should be appointed. (Kommersant, NG)

ChechnyaPresident may sue Memorial activist: Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov may file a libel lawsuit against member of the Memorial human rights centre Svetlana Gannushkina, Kadyrov’s lawyer Andrey Krasnenkov said on Wednesday. Krasnenkov cited in this context Gannushkina’s statements about the “atmosphere of violence in Chechnya during Ramzan Kadyrov’s presidency”. (Novye Izvestia, Gazeta.ru)

11 december 2009

Russia’s Muslim organisations seek unification: Dailies comment on plans by several Russian Muslim organisations to unite. Vremya novostei writes in a comment that a new influential religious organisation may be set up in Russia. Some experts, contacted by Izvestia, do not rule out that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov may head the new organisation. (Izvestia, VN)

16 december 2009

Train seized in Poland by refugees from Russia, Georgia: More than 200 asylum-seekers from Russia (including from Ingushetia and Chechnya] and Georgia on Tuesday seized a Wroclaw-Dresden train in Poland in an attempt to go to Strasbourg to complain over poor living conditions of refugees in Poland. Polish police took the refugees off the train after stopping it at the Polish-German border. (Gazeta, Kommersant, RG, RIAN, VN)

Chechnyato establish peace prize after Akhmat Kadyrov: The Chechen Parliament has proposed to establish an international peace prize named after Akhmat Kadyrov, the Chechen President assassinated in 2004. Chechen Parliament speaker Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov is quoted as saying that the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama “discredits” this prize. (Interfax, Ekho Moskvy)

17 december 2009

Memorial receives Sakharov Prize, resumes work in Chechnya: Three Russian human rights defenders – Lyudmila Alekseyeva, Sergey Kovalyov and Oleg Orlov – received the EU’s Sakharov Prize at the European Parliament on Wednesday on behalf of the Memorial human rights centre. The press also reports on Memorial’s intention to resume its activities in Chechnya suspended after the murder of Memorial activist Natalia Estemirova in July. (Interfax, Kommersant, MT, VN)

22 december 2009

ChechnyaPresident accuses West of backing militants in the Northern Caucasus: (i) The Moscow Times (Reuters) quotes Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov as having accused the West of financing militants in the Northern Caucasus. “Those who destroyed the Soviet Union, those who want to destroy the Russian Federation, they stand behind them”, he argued. Kadyrov also said that last year’s attack by Georgia on South Ossetia was part of a Western plot to seize the whole Caucasus region. (ii) Meeting PM Putin yesterday, Kadyrov stressed that while in 2008, the unemployment rate in Chechnya was 60%, it dropped to 45-40% this year. (MT, VN)

24 december 2009

Terrorist activity in Northern Caucasus rises– official: (i) Presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District Vladimir Ustinov announced on Tuesday that the number of terrorist attacks perpetrated by militants in the Northern Caucasus grew by nearly 30% in 2009, saying that Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya had “the highest recorded level of terrorist activity”. (ii) Chechen police said three militants were killed in an operation on Tuesday in Chechnya. A border guard force unit in Nazran came under fire late on Wednesday in Ingushetia. No casualties are reported. (iii) Dailies report that Dagestan’s Supreme Court has upheld an earlier ruling by the Derbent city court to invalidate the results of the 11 October mayoral elections in Derbent. (Interfax, ITAR-TASS, Kommersant, NG)

25 december 2009

Chechnya President’s Ukraine statement sparks international scandal: The media comment on a statement made by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov in an interview with Reuters, also posted on Telegraph’s web site, in which he allegedly branded Ukraine and Georgia as Russia’s “private affliction” and added that Russia “needs to attack”. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry slammed Kadyrov’s statement as “blatantly aggressive” and “essentially militaristic”. Kommersant quotes Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying answering a question on Kadyrov’s statement that he has not read the Chechen President’s interview. At the same time, Lavrov also emphasized that “Russia’s foreign policy concept does not envision attacking other states”. (Interfax, Kommersant, NG, RIAN)

31 december 2009

Chechen ombudsman calls on federal authorities to investigate abductions: In a press release, the Chechen ombudsman’s office has accused Russia’s military criminal justice authorities of failing to investigate abductions and disappearances in Chechnya and called on the Prosecutor General to intervene. The Chechen ombudsman’s office also warned of actions of protest over the “inaction” of the military criminal justice authorities. (Interfax)