Persoverzicht Tsjetsjenië - september 2008

• 2008-09-30
• Europa in de wereld

8 september 2008

- Six militants killed in Ingushetia: (i) Six suspected militants were reportedly killed in a shootout with law enforcement officers yesterday in Ingushetia. (ii) In a televised interview on Saturday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said certain forces “would like to shatter the situation in the Northern Caucasus, as a kind of revenge on Russia” for its decisions on South Ossetia and Abkhazia. (Interfax, Kommersant, VN)

9 september 2008

-Developments in N. Caucasus: (i) Ingush President Murat Zyazikov expressed hope for an objective investigation into the death in police custody of Ingush opposition journalist Magomed Yevloyev. Zyazikov also hinted that the US is interested in fanning tensions in Ingushetia with a view to destabilize the situation in the Northern Caucasus. (ii) Vremya novostei reports that one of the leaders of the Ingush opposition, Magomed Khazbiyev, has received a letter from the Russian President’s Administration, informing that the signatures collected in Ingushetia for the return to power of ex-Ingush President Ruslan Aushev were sent to the office of the Presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District. (iii) Press reports on the killing in an operation in Dagestan of Ilgar Malachiyev, who was named the so-called ‘amir of Dagestan’ after Rappani Khalilov was killed last year. (Gazeta, Interfax, Kommersant, NG, Novye Izvestia, VN)

15 september 2008

- Plane crash: A 16-year-old Boeing 737 that Aeroflot had operated for just seven weeks crashed minutes before landing in Perm on Sunday, killing all 88 people on board. Among the dead were Gennady Troshev, 61, former commander of the armed forces in Chechnya, and 22 foreigners, including citizens of France, Germany, Italy and the United States. (All media)

25 september 2008

- Ex-Duma member Ruslan Yamadayev gunned down in Moscow: Former Duma member, Hero of Russia Ruslan Yamadayev, 46, was killed yesterday in central Moscow when an unidentified gunman opened fire at his car. Another man, who was with him in the car, former military commander for Chechnya Sergey Kizyun, was seriously wounded. Ruslan Yamadayev is the brother of Sulim Yamadayev, the former commander of the Russian Defence Ministry’s Vostok (‘East’) battalion. The Yamadayevs headed a powerful clan in Chechnya and “were believed to be the only force in Chechnya capable of acting independently of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov”. The media recalls a standoff between the Yamadayevs and Kadyrov, which “culminated” in April. Some observers, however, do not rule out that those who “wanted to shake the positions of Ramzan Kadyrov could have been behind Ruslan Yamadayev’s assassination”. Interfax today quotes a spokesman for Ramzan Kadyrov who said that the Chechen President denounced the assassination of Ruslan Yamadayev as “”heinous and lawless”. Kommersant publishes the last interview given by Ruslan Yamadayev on 23 September. (Gazeta, Interfax, Izvestia, Kommersant, KP, MT, Novye Izvestia, RBK daily, RG, Vedomosti VN)

26 september 2008

- Probe into Ruslan Yamadayev’s killing: The media reports on various theories behind the killing on Wednesday in Moscow of former Duma member Ruslan Yamadayev. Most observers believe that the killing was political. Some commentators, including the first deputy speaker of the Federation Council, Alexander Torshin, did not exclude a so-called ‘Georgian track’ in Yamadayev’s assassination with the purpose to destabilize the situation in Chechnya ahead of Parliamentary elections there scheduled for 12 October. Ruslan Yamadayev’s brother, Issa, told Kommersant that his brother was killed after he held a meeting with an official at the Presidential Administration. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov told reporters on Thursday that the murder of Ruslan Yamadayev was most likely linked to a blood feud. Earlier, Kommersant suggested that the killer might have mistaken Ruslan Yamadayev for his younger brother Sulim, the former commander of the Defence Ministry’s Vostok (‘East’) battalion. (Gazeta, Interfax, Izvestia, Kommersant, MT, NG, RG, RIAN, Vedomosti, VN)

29 september 2008

- Sulim Yamadayev’s interview: Kommersant publishes an interview with Sulim Yamadayev, the former commander of the Russian Defence Ministry’s Vostok (‘East’) battalion, in which he comments on versions behind the killing of his brother, former Duma member Ruslan Yamadayev, and his relations with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. (Kommersant, Gazeta)