LRB

 

14 May 2009

Tony Wood

The Murder List

Tony Wood

On 16 April, President Medvedev announced the official end of Russia’s ‘counter-terrorist operation’ in Chechnya, effectively declaring victory in the long war against Chechen separatism. Much of Grozny – virtually razed to the ground during a decade and a half of fighting – has now been reconstructed, and in recent years there has been a marked decline in the activity of insurgent groups. The success is attributed to the iron rule of Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow president of Chechnya, whose ruthless methods have, we are told, brought peace to the region.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n09/wood03_.html

Policemen in Chechnya Killed in Attacks

A police officer in Chechnya was killed and three others seriously wounded May 3 when militants opened fire on the cars in the republic’s Achkhoi-Martan district, RIA Novosti and The Associated Press (AP) reported on May 4. AP quoted Chechnya’s Interior Ministry as saying that the policemen had been driving two vehicles into a village when three attackers opened fire with Kalashnikov rifles and then escaped.

On May 2, a policeman was killed in a bomb blast outside the village of Shuani in Chechnya’s Nozhai-Yurt district, Interfax reported. According to the news agency, an explosive device made from a 122-mm shell detonated as a convoy of five district police cars was passing by. On May 1, an interior ministry serviceman was severely wounded in an explosion outside the village of Belgatoi in Chechnya’s Shali district. According to Itar-Tass the ...

Kadyrov Says He’ll Step Down—in 10 Year

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov

In an interview with Die Presse published May 3, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said that he will step down in ten years, when the republic is “flourishing.”  Kadyrov told the Austrian newspaper that Chechnya in 2019 will be a “flourishing republic with the most handsome people in the world,” Russia Today reported. “I wouldn’t like being a President at that moment,” Kadyrov said.” I have a number of tasks which I need to fulfill until things go alright, and then I’ll take up something else. While I’m still young, I want to live, see the world and have time for myself and my family.” 

Asked to define himself, Kadyrov said he is the man during whose time in office “counter-terrorist operations ceased in Chechnya.” He also insisted once again that Russia’s armed forces had not ...

Moscow and Grozny Maintain the Illusion that the War has Ended

Several weeks after the official announcement of the end of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya on April 16, little has changed in the region. It is evident that the situation in the republic remains tense. Reports from the region indicate that, notwithstanding the end of the counter-terrorist operation, the armed opposition (represented by the jamaats) continues its activities across almost the entire North Caucasus region on the same level as they were during the counter-terrorist operation. These are not conventional military operations, which have not been carried out in the region for several years, but rather militant activities circumscribed to daily assaults on Russian law enforcement structures and on those, who—according to jamaat members—collaborate with the pro-Russian authorities on the local level.    

It is not surprising, then, that the military’s announcement of ...

Federal Forces in Chechnya Will Reportedly be Reduced and Restructured

Itar-Tass reported on May 6 that the number of federal troops in Chechnya will be cut in half and that the Combined Group of Forces in the North Caucasus will be transformed into a new security body provisionally called the Committee for Maintaining Security in the Region.

The news agency quoted a law-enforcement source as saying that since the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya was formally lifted last month (North Caucasus Weekly, April 17), it is no longer necessary to keep a large number of forces in the region. Therefore, the interior ministry and army troops, which were “temporarily” deployed in Chechnya, will be withdrawn and the Combined Group of Forces will be cut by at least half. The law-enforcement source also said that “specialists” will be sent to Chechnya to coordinate efforts to ensure security, ...