People in Chechnya fear possible guerrilla attackTimur Aliyev, North Caucasus – The inhabitants of Chechnya are frightened by gossips about the possibility of guerrillas entering Grozny. Many residents are temporarilly leaving the city for villages. Some organizations even told their employees that they may decide not to come to work.
Some top officials of the municipal administration who had told the staff to stay at home for two days were punished for spreading false alarming information.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the first vice-premier of the Moscow-backed government of the Chechen Republic, was forced to speak to the public not to give in the panic, trying to calm down the people. "It is not true. The guerrillas will not enter the city," said Kadyrov.
However, the streets of Grozny become empty right after working hours. Even though it is summer, it is difficult to meet somebody in the streets after 7 p.m. A restriction of movement after 10 p.m. was declared in Chechnya. Moreover, Chechen special police forces were deployed to former road check-points of the Russian federal army.
Despite of that, exchanges of fire can be heard in the city at night. One can hear the shooting especially near federal army bases, around the main base in Khankala and regional military command posts.
"The situation strongly reminds us of August 1996 when the guerrillas seized the whole Grozny. Back then everybody knew that there would be an attack on Grozny. What if their attack comes again?", people say. (S/T)
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