Russian military demolishes apartment buildings in GroznyТimur Aliyev, North Caucasus – The Russian military has demolished apartment houses in the Oktyabrski district, Grozny. Three five-floor buildings at the outskirts of the Chechen capital have been pulled down. More than a hundred people were deprived of their homes, barely able to grab their things, said Chechen human rights defender Tamara Kalayeva.
“Four, five and seven-floor buildings were blasted in the Khankalskaya street,” continues Kalayeva. “Soldiers gave the residents three hours to pack, threatening they would start demolition whether people leave or not.” Demolition work involves several residential quarters with 10-15 houses that are located in the vicinity of the federal military base in Khankala. “Only a few buildings really are in an emergency state, the rest could be reconstructed. And there are people living in all of them,” Kalayeva says.
According to a representative of the Chechen regional coordination headquarters, which are in charge of the "anti-terrorist operation" in Chechnya, Ilya Shabalkin, the destruction of residential buildings has been undertaken to secure the safety of flights above the military base district in Khankala. Shabalkin claims that the buildings were used as shelters and firing points of Chechen fighters, with the inhabitants being aware of it.
Recently, nine Russian servicemen including the Deputy Commander of the 58th Army, died after an MI-8 helicopter transporting them was shot down in Khankala on November 3.
The destruction of several houses in Grozny’s Oktyabrski district was confirmed by the Prime Minister of the Moscow-backed government in Chechnya, Stanislav Ilyasov. He alleged that an information was received about the possibility of Chechen fighters dwelling there. He also said that the decision about demolition had been adopted more than a year ago. “Unfortunately, one of the blasted buildings was a residential one,” said Ilyasov.
Rudnik Dudayev, Secretary of the Chechen Security Council, was quoted as saying that “hardly any forced migrants can be persuaded to return to Grozny when an increasing number of its inhabitants are losing their homes.”
It has not yet been resolved where the people from the demolished buildings will be placed. Grozny’s administration announced that the buildings had been condemned and only a few families lived there (contrary to safety regulations).
Demolition of other buildings has been suspended. This was announced by Tamerlan Didigov of the Capital Construction Administration of the Chechen Republic. He says that the chief of the Chechen administration, Akhmad Kadyrov, appealed to the military to stop demolition work, explaining that three buildings intended for demolition are included in reconstruction plans.
(P/T) |
