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Der Spiegel June 21, 2007
 
PUTIN'S MAN IN THE CAUCASUS

Kadyrov Struggles to Rebuild Chechnya -- And Stay Alive
By Uwe Klussmann in Moscow
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, installed by Moscow, is establishing
a police state in Chechnya based on a bizarre cult of personality. But
will he meet his father's fate and be assassinated?
Ramzan Kadyrov dances to celebrate his approval as president of
Chechnya in Grozny in March 2007.
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DPA
Ramzan Kadyrov dances to celebrate his approval as president of
Chechnya in Grozny in March 2007.
Young women stroll along streets lined with pizzerias, cafés and
fashion boutiques that have only been open for a few days. Grozny, a
city that was long synonymous with the horrors of war, is beginning to
look like any other European city, at least in places. Only two years
ago, the Chechen capital looked more like Berlin at the end of World
War II.
Rasambek Sakajev, 37, is about to begin his evening stroll along
Victory Avenue, the city's main thoroughfare. "It's like we've woken
up from a nightmare," he says.
Sakajev, a businessman, wears black trousers and a dark red silk
shirt. His business selling mobile phones has made him moderately well
off. He points to a new mosque nearing completion, one of Europe's
largest, its minaret still surrounded by intricate scaffolding.
A few streets away, the city's renovated Dynamo Stadium has opened its
marble-clad gates. Construction cranes across the street rotate above
a new complex of five-story buildings. A constant stream of Russian
Shiguli small cars flows through the city, now unhampered by the
Russian military checkpoints that made driving through the city an
agonizing experience for years.
Peace seems to have returned to the separatist province, which is
about the size of the German state of Thuringia, after more than seven
years of civil war. It seems hard to believe.
Peace has returned to Chechnya after seven years of civil war.
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DER SPIEGEL
Peace has returned to Chechnya after seven years of civil war.
The region, formerly known as the "Chechen Republic of Ichkeriya," had
fallen under the control of separatist and Islamist extremists. Now
that Moscow's weapons are silent, the roughly 300,000 inhabitants of
what was once the most beautiful city in the northern Caucasus region
are busy repairing the many buildings damaged in the war, fixing and
re-plastering walls and replacing blown-out windows. The work is being
done in three shifts. Hardly any workers wear helmets or protective
clothing.
Like many of the workers, Ali Mansurov, 30, has no training in
construction. The man with the haggard face has a degree from the
local petroleum engineering school but, like most other graduates, he
was unable to find a job in his field. Unemployment is at 76 percent,
say government officials in Grozny. Since February, Mansurov has been
pushing cement carts as part of an effort to plaster a five-story
apartment building on Ionissyanaya Street.
Mansurov, like many of his fellow workers, has not been paid the full
monthly wages of about €400 he was promised. Instead, he has only
received advances worth about a third of that amount. Nevertheless,
Mansurov says he has "high hopes" for Ramzan Kadyrov, the country's
"young, energetic president."
In fact, everyone seems to have pinned their hopes on Kadyrov, and the
phrase "young, energetic president" is on everyone's lips. This comes
as no surprise, given the fact that the Caucasus republic's
state-owned television and radio stations have been broadcasting
paeans to the president day and night. The 30-year-old Kadyrov,
enthroned as president of the republic at the behest of Russian
President Vladimir Putin, is in charge of all construction in the city.
Kadyrov has relentlessly pumped state funds into reconstruction. The
Russian government, for its part, has paid about €200 million to help
repair the war-damaged republic this year alone.
The Ahmed Kadyrov Foundation is also a source of funding for
reconstruction. The not entirely transparent charity, named after the
president's father, who was killed in a bombing attack in May 2004,
collects donations from dubious "bisnesmeni" and is said to have
extorted "donations" from blue-collar workers.
Despite all efforts, life in Grozny is still a far cry from normal and
peaceful. Some of the buildings may have been repaired and renovated,
but they still lack running water and are not connected to a
functioning sewage system. On calm evenings, there is a faint smell of
smoke in the air over residential areas -- residents burning their
garbage. Trash collection is infrequent.
Part 2: Killing Devils
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov speaks during a meeting in Gudermes.
A portrait of his father, late Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, is
seen in the background.
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AP
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov speaks during a meeting in Gudermes.
A portrait of his father, late Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, is
seen in the background.
One of the city's telltale sounds is the squeaking of iron pumps. With
no running water, residents are forced to carry water from public
wells to their apartments. As Radio Grozny blares from open windows, a
woman's voice sings of the "joy of being a Chechen."
Vacha Nassuchanov lives on the sunny side of the new republic. He is
the mayor of Gudermes, President Kadyrov's hometown. The popular
official, formerly the president's "security advisor," praises the new
Chechnya as a place of harmony. "There are no problems here," he says,
"the president decides everything."
Walking along Kadyrov Street, Nassuchanov heads for a jewelry shop,
passing a gold-plated monument to the senior Kadyrov along the way. In
the shop, a saleswoman shows him a ring set with large diamonds, which
has a price-tag of €4,800 -- about 25 times the average monthly wage
in Chechnya. An oil painting of the junior Kadyrov hangs on the wall.
On the other side of the street, a bearded Kadyrov guardsman opens the
door of the Ramzan Republic Sports Club, revealing a 20-foot-tall
poster of the president. Six photos of the president line the walls of
the lobby.
In the spotlessly clean workout room, muscular young men climb into
the boxing ring. They all wear T-shirts with a portrait of the same
man: Ramzan. In a corner of the workout room hangs a photo of a
faintly smiling Putin. It's almost as if the man who, as prime
minister, dispatched Russian troops to the rebellious province in
1999, were indulgently observing the bizarre goings-on in the new
republic.
Fear and Fascination
Like some gangland boss, Ramzan Kadyrov evokes fear and fascination in
equal measure among his countrymen. Chechens, including government
employees, are exceedingly cautious about voicing any criticism of the
provincial dictator and the cult surrounding the father and son.
For years, the president's 19,000-strong security forces, known as
"kadyrovtsy," kidnapped, tortured and killed countless fellow
Chechens. In 2005, when he was still deputy prime minister, Kadyrov
told the pro-Kremlin paper Komsomolskaya Pravda that his "hobby" was
"killing devils" -- a reference to Islamic underground fighters
battling for Chechen independence. The human rights organization
Memorial estimates that about 3,500 residents of Chechnya have
"disappeared" since 1999, dragged off by Russian occupiers or the
kadyrovtsy.
Kadyrov himself wears a star-shaped "Hero of Russia" medal proudly
pinned to his chest. He has around-the-clock bodyguards to protect him
against survivors seeking to avenge their murdered family members. He
surrounds himself with muscular men dressed in black, drives a Hummer
SUV and, in his public appearances, behaves as if he were the epitome
of exuberant joie de vivre. He tosses around 1,000 ruble notes (about
€30) at a beauty contest in Grozny or has five camels imported and
slaughtered for a feast in his home village.
A Dangerous Undertaking
Kadyrov, who has a boyish smile, glosses over the fact that being a
Chechen president is a dangerous undertaking. Since 1996, four of the
region's five presidents have died a violent death. The only one who
left office alive was Kadyrov's predecessor, Alu Alkhanov -- Kadyrov,
prime minister at the time, forced him to resign.
The kadyrovtsy deal harshly with armed separatists, who are still
operating, especially in the mountains of southern Chechnya. Those who
are captured and survive the electroshocks and beatings during their
interrogations often end up in IK 2, a prison in Chernokosovo, 50
kilometers (31 miles) northwest of Grozny. Moscow has transformed the
facility into a model prison. Colonel Igor Plemedyale, a press
spokesman of the Russian justice ministry, insists that Chernokosovo
is a prison "at the European level."
In the cafeteria, where the air is filled with the sharp odor of
cleaning products, prisoners in blue drill uniforms eat a thin cabbage
soup. Lomali Berzanov, 25, is being held in a cell with nine metal
beds in a two-story cellblock painted in pastel colors. A graduate of
a computer school in Grozny, he was sentenced in 2005 to 10 years in
prison for his membership in an "illegal armed formation" -- Moscow's
code for armed resistance. When the prisoners walk from the prison
gate to their cells, they pass a slogan painted on the wall that
reads: "Honest work is the way home."
Those militant Chechens who are not convinced that work makes you free
in Kadyrov's empire have gathered around Doku Umarov, a warlord who
has also declared himself president of Chechnya. Umarov has proclaimed
a "holy war" against the "Russian occupiers" and local "traitors."
Russian officials estimate that his armed fighters number 300 to 800
men, many of them in their early 20s. Week after week, partisan groups
blow up the vehicles of Russian officials and the kadyrovtsy or open
fire on military installations. The rebels can depend on the support
of tens of thousands of sympathizers and a broad-based separatist
subculture driven by the thirst for revenge.
Part 3: 'We Have Transferred Power to Bandits'
Chechen father Alkhazur Ibragimov, second right, sits with his sons
Salman (l) and Imran as his wife Zarema looks on in their home in
Grozny. The region has been wracked by two wars, growing Islamic
extremism and grinding poverty since the Soviet collapse.
Zoom
AP
Chechen father Alkhazur Ibragimov, second right, sits with his sons
Salman (l) and Imran as his wife Zarema looks on in their home in
Grozny. The region has been wracked by two wars, growing Islamic
extremism and grinding poverty since the Soviet collapse.
In Grozny's markets, young dealers sell CDs by Bon Jovi and the
Rolling Stones, as well as cassette tapes of the banned songs of
separatist bard Timur Muzurayev, who sings about "Grozny in eternal
flames," the "great jihad" and the "gardens of paradise" for fallen
Chechen fighters.
In the course of several amnesties, Kadyrov has tamed tired rebels
more interested in earthly happiness, thereby weakening the resistance
front. Former rebels fond of money and of wearing uniforms have been
given police and bureaucratic jobs, as well as political posts.
Magomed Khanbyev, the former defense minister of the Ichkeria rebel
republic, now serves as a member of the handpicked parliament in Grozny.
Old Ichkeria rebels who have risen to key positions under Kadyrov form
the basis of his system of power. Dukwacha Abdurakhmanov, the speaker
of the parliament, led a group of armed fighters against the Russian
invaders in 1994. Artur Akhmadov, head of the Omon special police
force in Grozny, was the chief bodyguard of Aslan Mashadov, the rebel
president who was killed in 2005.
Slapping them on their backs, Kadyrov assures the former rebels, of
which he himself was one at the age of 18, that he relies on them. It
is almost as if he were signaling to the Ichkeria rebels, whose symbol
was a howling wolf, that they have won after all.
A Russian Withdrawal
The leadership in Grozny is already asking the Russians to withdraw
"unnecessary troops." Kadyrov also wants to keep young Chechen men
from being drafted into the Russian military, and has urged the
Russian interior ministry to close an office in Grozny that operates
investigations against Chechen fighters. He is calling for the Russian
head of the public prosecutor's office to be recalled. To the
Kremlin's representatives in Grozny, it appears that the Chechen
government is attempting to reduce Moscow's power in the region.
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A group of 100 agents of the Russian intelligence agency, FSB, have
barricaded themselves into a building in downtown Grozny that was
inaugurated a few weeks ago. The agents are complaining that although
they are still able to perfectly analyze the situation in Chechnya,
they have hardly any influence over it anymore.
"We have transferred power to bandits," says one colonel in the
intelligence service. As if to confirm his words, Kadyrov recently
appointed one of his cousins to the post of prime minister.
The Russian army, which officially sacrificed more than 4,500 troops
to subjugate the rebel province, has taken up residence in the 42nd
division garrison in Khankala near Grozny. Leaving the heavily secured
camp is dangerous for soldiers.
Officers wishing to travel home to Russia are often forced to take
taxis. In the best of cases, local drivers fleece them with outrageous
prices.
But they can also face situations like the one Major Igor Gorban
encountered when his trip ended at the border to the neighboring
republic, Dagestan, when a white Shiguli blocked the taxi's way.
Three bearded, armed men jumped from the small car and told Gorban,
threateningly: "Pay up if you want to make it home alive.". Gorban was
allowed to drive home, but with an empty wallet. Everything he had
saved over months was lost.
The highway robber had left him enough cash to buy a train ticket home
-- a small gesture to the enemy.
 
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
 
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