From: MSN Nicknamepsychoteddybear24  (Original Message)    Sent: 8/19/2006 8:45 PM
PRO-MOSCOW CHECHEN LEADER CREATES NEW HUMAN RIGHTS BODY. On October
5, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov will turn 30, the minimum
age for candidates for the post of pro-Moscow republic head. Many
observers both in Russia and abroad have long considered it a given
that Kadyrov will be named to succeed incumbent republic head Alu
Alkhanov before the end of this year, even though Kadyrov has denied
harboring any such ambitions. And a recent visit to Chechnya by a
large Russian government delegation whose members were cited in the
Russian press as unanimously lauding Kadyrov's role in expediting
reconstruction of the republic's war-shattered infrastructure has
also been widely interpreted as reflecting Moscow's backing for
Kadyrov (see "RFE/RL Newsline," July 27, 2006).
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, however, who has years
of first-hand experience of developments in Chechnya and elsewhere in
the North Caucasus, suggested in a recent interview with RFE/RL's
North Caucasus Service and a subsequent article published in "Novaya
gazeta" on August 14 that the Russian leadership has finally lost
patience with Kadyrov, and that the government ministers who traveled
to Grozny in July ordered him unambiguously to toe the line. She
further claimed that several Chechen law-enforcement bodies have
"mutinied" against Kadyrov and refused either to continue making the
requisite payment of a percentage of their monthly salary into the
Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov Fund named after Ramzan's slain father, or
to renew their oath of loyalty to Ramzan.
Kadyrov himself affirmed in an interview published in
"Nezavisimaya gazeta" on August 14 that he does not consider himself
mature enough to assume the role of republic head, and he claimed --
not entirely convincingly -- that he dreams of quitting politics
altogether. Aleksei Malashenko of the Carnegie Moscow Center was
quoted by "Novye izvestiya" on August 15 as suggesting that Moscow
may shunt Kadyrov sideways into some kind of honorary post such as
Russia's permanent representative to the Organization of the
Islamic Conference.
Meanwhile, Alkhanov has launched what appears to be either a
last-ditch attempt to preclude, or at least delay, his dismissal, or
alternatively, a move coordinated with Moscow to discredit Kadyrov
and provide grounds for removing him. On August 11, Alkhanov issued a
decree establishing an advisory body that will focus on human rights
issues, law and order, and the interaction between Chechen government
bodies and federal agencies in the sphere of economic and social
security. Those are all areas in which Kadyrov and his subordinates
have ridden roughshod over legal norms.
Alkhanov's August 11 decree transforms the republic's
Security Council into a Council for Economic and Social Security that
will focus on human rights issues and law and order, and on the
interaction between Chechen government bodies and federal agencies in
the sphere of economic and social security. His stated rationale for
doing so, according to "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on August 14, was the
law-enforcement organs' failure to reduce the scale of endemic
corruption by arresting offenders and bringing them to trial.
Alkhanov simultaneously appointed as secretary of the new council his
former chief advisor German Vok, who headed his election campaign in
Grozny in 2004. Kadyrov was quoted by "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on August
14 as saying neither he, nor other government officials, nor the
Chechen parliament were informed in advance of the impending
reorganization of the Security Council. But Alkhanov could not have
undertaken that reorganization without the prior approval of the
Kremlin.
The first session of the new council took place on August 15
and focused on the situation in those districts of southern Chechnya
that border on Georgia, according to chechnya.gov.ru. Local
pro-Moscow administrators have accused the Russian military units
deployed there of violations ranging from restricting the access of
local residents to their homes to illicit logging. Vok rejected
attempts by Vladimir Ponomaryov, deputy commander of the Federal
Border Service Administration, to deny or downplay the seriousness of
those violations, regnum.ru reported on August 16. Vok further
announced the creation of a commission that will address the
"misunderstandings" between the Chechen civilian population and the
Russian military. The primary cause of such "misunderstandings" over
the past seven years has been the indiscriminate recourse by the
latter to violence against the former. But some observers claim that
since the death of Kadyrov's father in a terrorist bombing in May
2004, police formations subordinate to the younger Kadyrov have
superceded the Russian military as the primary perpetrators of
seemingly arbitrary killings and abductions of civilians. Thus if
Alkhanov were to announce that water-tight measures have been enacted
to prevent such abuses by the Russian military, the blame for any
future crimes of that nature would devolve on to the Chechen
government law enforcement agencies for which Kadyrov as prime
minister is ultimately responsible.
Just days after the creation of Alkhanov's new council,
Kadyrov's office issued orders to the Interior Ministry to
investigate reports that local bureaucrats are extorting money from
residents of Argun and Gudermes (Kadyrov's home town) to finance
reconstruction work there, kavkaz.memo.ru reported on August 15. It
was not clear whether those payments were in addition to the
statutory requirement that all Chechens employed in the public sector
pay a percentage of their monthly salary into the Akhmed-hadji
Kadyrov fund, which finances reconstruction projects, among other
things. Kadyrov warned that any bureaucrat found guilty of extorting
money will be punished. (Liz Fuller)