December 2001Summary of main news related to the conflict in Chechnya.
December 1
Deputy military prosecutor of the Combined Armed Forces in the Northern Caucasus, lieutenant-colonel Roman Grigoryan, was killed in Argun. According to Russian sources, Grigoryan was killed by Russian soldiers who opened fire at his car after it approached their check-point too quickly, while Chechen sources claimed Grigoryan was killed as a result of an operation of Chechen fighters.
Russian FSB accused Danish Refugee Council of distributing food especially to people supporting Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov. -- ITAR-TASS.
December 3
Human rights NGOs, which requested to participate in investigation into crimes in Chechnya, will be allowed to do so on condition that such cooperation does not violate the existing legislation, announced Deputy General Prosecutor for Russia’s Southern Federal Region, Sergei Fridinskiy.
The European Commission announced that it had allocated another 7.5 million euro for assistance covering the most urgent humanitarian needs of internally displaced people, returnees and vulnerable groups in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Daghestan throughout the winter.
Colonel-General Gennady Troshev, the commander of the North Caucasus military district, removed Colonel Nikolai Sidorenko, the commandant of Argun, from his post due to a poor performance of his duties.
December 4
Rizvan Lоrsanov, a prominent Chechen political and public figure, who organised Russian-Chechen talks during the first war in Chechnya, was killed close to his home in the village of Novye Atagi, south of Grozny, after his car hit a radio-controlled mine.
December 6
The situation in refugee camps in Chechnya has worsened and the general situation in Chechnya has virtually remained on its previous level, said Lord Judd, head of a PACE delegation visiting Northern Caucasus from Dec 2 till 5, at a news conference in Moscow.
December 7
The operations in Chechnya must be completed by spring 2002, said Viktor Kazantsev, Russian President’s plenipotentiary in the Southern Federal District, against a backdrop of large deployment of Russian troops and heavy military equipment into southern Chechnya.
December 8
Two workers of the office of the pro-Moscow prosecutor of Grozny, Akhmed Khamzatov and Alexander Leushin, were killed after their car hit a radio-controlled mine in the Chechen capital.
December 11
The Russian military launched a five-day "special operation" in Argun after Chechen fighters carried out there an attack on a Russian military convoy.
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) started distributing support payments to some 16,000 Ingush families providing Chechen refugees with food and lodging. SDC's "Cash for Shelter" programme is worth a total of 2.7 million Swiss franks.
December 12
Russia's General Prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov pleaded for a life sentence for the tried Chechen field commander Salman Raduyev during the court proceedings taking place in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala.
December 13
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Lord Russell-Johnston in his statement critized the unimproving humanitarian situation in Chechnya and appealed to Russia, other Council of Europe governments and relevant international agencies to urgently provide humanitarian assistance to the victims of the conflict. Russell-Johnston also called on Russia "to continue and accelerate their talks with Chechen representatives".
A voluntary worker of the Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship, Luiza Betergiriyeva, was shot dead by Russian soldiers at a check-point near Argun, where a "special operation" was underway (see December 11). -- Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship
Strana.ru launched Internet information channel "Chechen Republic", which provides news and other materials on the conflict in Chechnya as seen from the Russian perspective.
December 14
Controversial Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, now in exile and unsuccessfully trying to form opposition to Russian President Putin, accused Russian secret services of organizing the bombings of apartment houses in Moscow and Volgodonsk in 1999. FSB spokesman Alexandr Zdanovich called Berezovsky's statement a nonsense several days later.
December 16
The Russian military ended a five-day "special operation" in Argun. A number of human rights violations occurred during the operation in the sealed-off town.
December 17
Russian authorities admitted that human rights violations did occur during the recent “special operation” in Argun on Dec 11-16, 2001 and said that investigation into them had been launched.
December 18
Unidentified masked men broke into the house of the Ezhiyev family in Serzhen-Yurt and shot dead Akhmed Ezhiyev, brother of the chairman of the regional branch of the Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Imran Ezhiyev.
December 19
Russian Human Rights Centre “Memorial” informed that human rights organisations and the prosecutor’s offices operating in Chechnya launched cooperation. At the same time, human rights violations in Chechnya continue and control of power structures in the republic seems to be lost, Memorial said, expressing concern especially about the activities of “death squads” formed by Russian power ministries and engaged in kidnapping, torture and killing of people as well as in setting houses on fire and blowing them up.
December 20
Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights in Chechnya Vladimir Kalamanov said that living conditions in Chechen refugee camps were horrific, thus putting the stability in the region as well as people’s trust in federal authorities at risk.
Amnesty International expressed concern about the fate two Chechen women seized by Russian soldiers in Serzhen-Yurt on Nov 9. Eset Yahyayeva, 45, and Milana Betirgiriyeva, 21, have not been seen since, Amnesty said, adding that many Chechen
civilians had been found dead after arrest by Russian troops.
December 21
The European Commission announced that it had allocated another 7.5 million euro for assistance covering the most urgent humanitarian needs of internally displaced people and other vulnerable groups in Chechnya itself and to refugees in neighbouring republics for the period till spring 2002.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) agreed to Russia's proposal to change the earlier unlimited mandate of the OSCE Assistance Group to Chechnya to a mandate expiring at the end of 2002.
December 25
After five-week proceedings the Dagestani Supreme Court in Makhachkala sentenced Chechen field commander Salman Raduyev, who faced charges of terrorism, banditry, hostage-taking, organization of murders and illegal armed formations, to life imprisonment. Raduyev’s lawyer appealed the verdict.
December 28
US Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Alexander Vershbow, in an interview for radio station Ekho Moskvy reiterated that the USA considers the conflict in Chechnya an internal affair of the Russian Federation but distinguishes between “separatists” and “terrorists” in Chechnya.
December 29
Ruslan Sultanovich Aushev, 47, resigned as the President of Ingushetia, a year ahead of the end of his second five-year presidential mandate expiring on March 1, 2003. Ingush Premier Akhmet Isayevich Malgasov became Ingushetia's Acting President.
Sunday, Dec 30
Russian military and police launched a special operation in the Kurchaloyevski district.
Compiled by Prague Watchdog.
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