October 2001
Summary of main news related to the conflict in Chechnya.
October 1
In reaction to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze’s readiness to facilitate the possible talks on the termination of fighting in Chechnya to be held between representatives of Russian and Chechen presidents, Russian President’s aide Sergey Yastrzembsky said that the Kremlin does not need any international intermediaries for such talks.
On the eve of the E.U.-Russia summit, Human Rights Watch called on European leaders and NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson to keep a firm stand against human rights abuses in Chechnya also in a situation of the common struggle against terrorism.
October 2
Another phone call was made between Viktor Kazantsev, Russian President’s plenipotentiary in the Southern Federal Region, and President of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov’s representative Akhmed Zakayev. Kazantsev and Zakayev discussed only technical details of their forthcoming meeting, including the place where the meeting should be held.
Vladimir Kalamanov, the special representative of the Russian President for the securing of human rights and freedoms of the citizens in Chechnya, called the new appeal of Human Rights Watch (of Oct 1) concerning the continuing violation of human rights in Chechnya ungrounded. Kalamanov stressed that he had no reservations about the work of the prosecution, courts and the Russian Justice Ministry in Chechnya.
October 5
The examination of witnesses to Shamil Basayev’s raid on Budyonnovsk in 1995 started at the regional court in Stavropol, south Russia. Raisa Dundayeva, Aslan Yakubov, Vakhit Aydamirov, and Salambek Daudov have been charged principally with terrorism, participation in illegal bandit formations and hostage-taking. The hearings will be held in camera.
Some 500 people picketed the building of the district military headquarters in Shali in protest against the call-up of their sons to the Russian army. People claimed that in view of the ongoing war they do not want to see their sons joining the army that is fighting in Chechnya.
Russian media informed that Lieutenant General Vladimir Moltenskoy had replaced Colonel General Valery Baranov as head of the United Group of Federal Forces in Chechnya as part of the regular staff rotation. The media did not indicate the date of the replacement.
A total of 51,354 new passports of the Russian Federation have been issued in Chechnya since the beginning of this year, so the remaining over 400,000 people in the republic are without a new passport, acting head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s passport and visa department for Chechnya, Lieutenant Colonel Ruslan Abdulayev, said. – Interfax-AVN
October 6
The group of federal troops in Chechnya needs additional funds, chairman of Russia's State Duma commission for defence and national security funding, Vladislav Reznik, told a news conference. -- Itar-Tass
Georgia handed over to Russia the group of 13 persons who were arrested at the Georgian-Russian border on June 6, 2001. Some of them are Kabardino-Balkarians, the nationality of the rest remains under question.
October 7
Hundreds of inhabitants of the Prigorodnoye village, situated several kilometres southeast of Grozny, blocked the traffic on the Grozny-Shatoi road in protest against the killing of a 10-year-old local boy, who died on Saturday after – according to what the locals claim - a grenade fired by Russian soldiers fell on him and his friends several days ago.-Lenta.ru
October 8
Ruslan Dzumayev, deputy head of the administration of the Starye Atagi village was killed by unknown attackers. According to locals, Dzumayev might have been killed by Chechen fighters for his alleged cooperation with the Russian military who were carrying out a so called „mopping-up operation“ in the village for nearly two weeks before the incident, which took away also the lives of several other people.
October 9
Several thousand reservists were called up in Abkhazia, the eastern part of Georgia, due to the presence of several hundred fighters, presumably of Chechen and Georgian origin, in the Kodor gorge, Abkhazia.
October 10
Since the beginning of Russian military operations in Chechnya, 103 criminal proceedings have been initiated against Russian servicemen for their alleged crimes against civilians in Chechnya and a total of 47 soldiers (from a colonel to a private) have already been sentenced for such crimes, Chechnya’s pro-Moscow Prosecutor Vsevolod Chernov told a news conference in Grozny.
Some mass media spread disinformation about alleged heavy injury of Chechen field commander Khattab, one of the most prominent figures of the extremist wing of the Chechen resistance.
The perpertators of the death of 10-year-old Chechen boy Muslim Bisultanov will be punished, said newly appointed chief of Russian military in Chechnya Vladimir Moltenskoy at a meeting with the inhabitants of the Prigorodnoye village, who have been blocking the Grozny-Shatoi road for four days in protest against nearly four dozen deaths in the village since the beginning Russian military operations in Chechnya.
October 12
The mandate of the three-member team of the Council of Europe (CoE), which had been working in Chechnya since June 2000, will be prolonged in agreement with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov until the end of the year, CoE Secretary General Walter Schwimmer said, adding that „despite positive progress as regards human rights in Chechnya, further progress still has to be made“.
October 13
Imran Ezhiyev, chairman of the North Caucasus branch of the Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship, was detained by the Sunza internal affairs department for suspected „anti-constitutional activity“. Deputy prosecuror for the Sunzha district Ibragim Moghushkov said that Ezhiyev’s detention is not linked to his work at the Society. – Prima News Agency
October 15
The European Commission decided to provide additional funds worth 6.85 million euro for humanitarian aid to support the victims of the Chechnya conflict during the first half of the coming winter. The aid will be provided in the sectors of food, medical, non-food items and shelter for people both in Chechnya itself and in the neighbouring republics.
Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski said during his visit to Russia that Poland is ready to detain any terrorists residing on its territory but the democratic character of the country allows the operation of various organisations. In response, Ali Ramzan Ampukayev, head of the Chechen information centre in Krakow, said that the operations of the centre and its subsidiary in Warsaw had been suspended due to a lack of staff. – RIA Novosti.
A group of Chechen fighters attacked the police department in Vedeno, southeast Chechnya, taking hold of the weapons and ammunition.
October 16
Russia and UNESCO signed an agreement on cooperation in the restoration of Chechnya’s education system. UNESCO allocated 300,000 USD for the purpose. – RIA Novosti
In an interview for Radio Svoboda, Vladimir Kalamanov, the special representative of the Russian President for the securing of human rights and freedoms of the citizens in Chechnya, reiterated that he is satisfied with the work of both the civil and military prosecutor’s offices in Chechnya.
October 18
Head of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration Akhmad Kadyrov harshly criticised the work of the pro-Moscow government led by Prime Minister Stanislav Ilyasov and of law enforcement agencies in the republic. Kadyrov also appointed Yan Sergunin, former head of the judicial department under the Russian Supreme Court in charge of Chechnya, as head of the office of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration and his own deputy.
October 19
A group of experts of the office of Viktor Kazantsev, Russian President’s envoy to the Southern Federal District, arrived in Chechnya to inspect the state of restoration work in the republic and the spending of funds allocated for that purpose.
Chechnya’s pro-Moscow authorities announced that an airline company - Vainakh-Avia - will be set up in Chechnya. The airline will be based in the Severny airport in Khankala, the main Russian military base in the republic. -- RBC
October 22
Commander of the Joint Group of the Armed Forces in the Northern Caucasus, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Moltenskoy, announced that in view of the results of recent inspections at Russian checkpoints in Chechnya he had sent several high-ranking officers back to their units. Moltenskoy added that the inspections, which showed that Russian soldiers at checkpoints extort money and abuse civilians, will cover all checkpoints in Chechnya.
October 23
Various special permits allowing their holders to pass through checkpoints have become void and standard Russian passports took over their function as of Oct 23, said commander of the Joint Group of the Armed Forces in the Northern Caucasus, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Moltenskoy.
Russian Defence Ministry assured the public it is taking all possible measures to achieve the release of Lieutenant-Colonel Sergei Boryayev, who had been taken prisoner by Chechen fighters on Sept 29 and then offered to be swapped, allegedly for 25 detained Chechen women.
October 24
The meeting of Viktor Kazantsev, Russian President’s envoy to the Southern Federal District, and Akhmed Zakayev, Chechen President’s representative for the upcoming Russian-Chechen talks on the possible termination of fighting, will take place in Moscow in a couple of days or a week or two, Kazantsev’s office informed.
Imran Ezhiyev, chairman of the North Caucasus office of the Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship and head of the refugee camp in the Ingush village of Yander, was transported to a facility of the Russian Interior Ministry in Grozny. Ezhiyev was detained on October 13 and before his transport to Grozny he was held at the Sunza police station in Ingushetia. – Prima News Agency
October 25
The airport in Grozny was declared ready for use. The date of the actual opening of the airport, where the Vainakh-Avia airline company is likely to operate, has not been set yet as the security situation is still unstable.
Friday, October 26
Some 162,000 refugees stay in Chechnya’s neighbouring regions, namely Ingushetia, North Osetia, Dagestan and the Stavropol region, said colonel Ruslan Avtayev, minister of emergencies in the pro-Moscow Chechen government. According to the State Statistical Committee of the Russian Federation, there are 603,400 people living in Chechnya at the moment, of whom 145,000 are living in towns. – AVN Interfax
Working groups of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, which are led by the Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Valentin Sobolev, arrived in Chechnya and Rostov-on-Don to inspect the work of information and propaganda bodies within the Southern Federal District and military structures involved in the „anti-terrorist operation“ in the North Caucasus. – Nezavisimaya gazeta
Ali Aysultanov, a close aide and former body guard of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, was killed in a special operation of Russian forces, said Ilya Shabalkin of the PR department of the Russian Federal Security Service.
October 27
Akhmed Zakayev, Chechen President’s representative for the upcoming Russian-Chechen talks on the possible termination of fighting, said in an interview for Radio Svoboda that the compromise of the talks could be derived from the statements of Russian and Chechen Presidents according to which the mutual security of Russia and Chechnya is more important than the status of Chechnya.
October 28
Salavdi Gairbekov, head of the Nozhai-Yurt district police, was shot dead when driving a car in the centre of Argun.
October 29 A few hundred people from the Komsomolskoye village blocked the building of the Gudermes administration claiming to get back the bodies of two young people from their village and punish publicly the Russian soldiers who shot them dead from a military helicopter three days ago.
October 30
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, arriving in Moscow on October 31 on his first visit to Russia, said without elaboration there are links between the Taleban regime in Afganistan and Chechen guerillas.
October 31 The pro-Moscow Chechen government and relief aid agencies signed in Grozny an agreement on mutual understanding and cooperation in the field of humanitarian programmes, which should ensure the latter freer access to the population in need and freer movement of humanitarian cargoes across Chechnya.
70-year-old Magomed Dolkayev, a Chechen religious leader and keen supporter of Chechnya’s independence, was shot dead in front of his house in the Novye Aldi village, several kilometres south of Grozny.
Compiled by Prague Watchdog.
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