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English Language Page In the night to August 20 several of the districts of the city of Grozny have seen pogroms staged up by unidentified people dressed in camouflage uniforms and sky masks. According to the deputy Chechen minister of interior Sultan Satuyev, “late in the night they broke into houses, battered members of the families and loudly vowed that they would kill them if they didn’t vote for Akhmat Kadyrov at the polls.” An investigation has been opened for the purpose of identification and apprehension of the offenders. The authorities have quite expectedly called the incident a pre-planned provocation against the Acting President of Chechnya Akhmat Kadyrov. The latter went on record with a rhetorical question, “Do you believe that I am such a fool as to urge my supporters to break into people’s homes and beat them saying ‘we are Mr Kadyrov’s people and we will kill if you vote for another candidate?’” However, these suspicions are not totally groundless. "Mr Kadyrov’s people" have managed to become notorious throughout the republic by their totally arbitrary actions. Moreover, it is the easiness of the conclusion about a provocation that points in their direction; their methods are far from being new. INTERFAX; Polit.Ru August 20. Official representative of the Regional HQs of the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus Ilya Shabalkin made a statement, saying that Aslan Maskhadov has received 3 million dollars “from abroad” to disrupt the upcoming October 5 presidential elections in Chechnya. “According to the evidence received from detained militants,” said Mr Shabalkin, “this ‘task-oriented tranche’ shall be used by the leaders of the band formations to organize terrorists and sabotage acts against civilian objects and innocent population. The separatists are going to use suicide-terrorists.” Strana.Ru August 26.Speaking at a joint session of the boards of the ministries of interior of Russia and Belarus Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Gryzlov stated that the security throughout the election campaign in Chechnya would be provided at a due level. “The law-enforcement bodies have had an experience of conducting similar social-political events, namely the referendum,” said the Minister. “That time we managed to ensure the security at the polling sites and prevented 11 terrorist attacks.” Strana.Ru As of August 30 the Chechen Republic Election Commission had registered the following 11 presidential candidates: Aslambek Aslakhanov, the RF State Duma deputy; Khussein Biybulatov, advisor to the director of Electrogorsk Power Plant Safety Research Center; Abdula Bugaev, temporary unemployed; Shamil Buraev, ex-head of the Achkhoi-Martan district administration; Khussein Dzhabrailov, first deputy general director of the “Russia” hotel (Moscow); Akhmat Kadyrov, acting President of the Chechen Republic; Nikolai Paizullaev, poet, employee of the press-service of the Chechen Republic acting President; Kudus Saduev, deputy general director of open joint stock company "Grozneftegaz"; Malik Saidullaev, president of “Milan” concern; Avkhat Khanchukaev, professor at the Grozny State University; Said-Selim Tsuev, colonel, deputy military commandant of Chechnya. Beslan Gantamirov and Ruslan Khasbulatov, who initially expressed their intention to take part in the election campaign, gave up the idea of getting nominated to run for president. kavkaz.memo.ru September 1. The ITAR TASS news agency quoted Akhmat Kadyrov who predicted a virtually 100% turnout of voters at the polls in the Chechen presidential elections. According to Mr Kadyrov, “a vigorous political advertising campaign is underway in the republic one month before the election day.” He noted that “at the time of the referendum on the new constitution of Chechnya political advertising campaign was conducted by the plebiscite inattentive group only, while now all 11 campaign HQs are engaged in such activities throughout the republic.” Strana.Ru September 1. A correspondent of the Informational Center of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society met with Uvais Elzhiev, head of the pre-election headquarter of Shamil Buraev in Achkhoi-Martan. According to Elzhiev, the rules for the pre-election procedure are being violated by the administration of the Achkhoi—Martan region, which supports the Acting President, Akhmat Kadyrov. The regional publications by Buraev do not reach the public, because they are confiscated from the news-stands. The regional TV does not give time to Buraev to introduce his political program. Buraev has not received the promised body-guards yet. “It is very difficult to work in such unlawful conditions,” Uvais Elzhiev said. Russian-Chechen Friendship Society September 2. Akhmat Kadyrov sent a motion to the RF State Duma asking for the prolongation of the amnesty deadline for the participants of illegal Chechen military formations till October 5, 2003 (i.e. the voting day for the president of the republic), arguing that “not all of the militants eager to accept the amnesty had a chance to do it, and thus shall be given more time.” Newsru.com Back |
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