The Week in Brief: May 14 - May 20, 2001
Monday, May 14
According to a 24-page report “Burying the Evidence: the Botched Investigation into a Mass Grave in Chechnya” released by Human Rights Watch, Russian authorities “have literally buried evidence of extra-judicial executions in Chechnya”. The report is concerned with the mass grave of 51 bodies discovered half a mile from the Russian military HQ at Khankala near Grozny in February.
The United Nations agencies will raise about 26 million dollars for the realization of their humanitarian programmes in the Northern Caucasus, says the UN’s report presented in Moscow. At the same time, the UN representatives urged the international community to participate in financing the food help programme in the region. As they claim, only 33,000 people were targeted with their help in March, which is in a deep contrast with 315,000 helped in February.
Tuesday, May 15
More than 10 orphanages and residence schools will be launched in the Chechen Republic this year, Chechnya Socio-Economic Recovery Minister Vladimir Yelagin announced. He disclosed that currently 1,600 orphans and over 6,000 homeless children live in Chechnya.
The commander of joint forces in Chechnya Gen Valeriy Baranov was unexpectedly replaced by the commander of the North Caucasian Military District, Gen Gennadiy Troshev. Baranov's holiday is routine and will last 45 days.
Wednesday, May 16
Russian President‘s aide Sergei Yastrzhembski announced that as many as 3,096 servicemen in Russia's armed forces and Interior Ministry forces and police have been killed and 9,187 wounded in Chechnya since October 1, 1999. The Defense Ministry-run forces have registered 1,889 as killed and 5,326 as wounded, while police and Interior Ministry forces have lost 1,122 as killed and 3,490 as wounded, Yastrzhembski said.
Thursday, May 17
A former deputy of Chechnya‘s Minister of Interior, Movladi Raisov, was found dead with his throat cut in the river Alazani, Pankinski Gorge, Georgia.
The number of officially registered unaccounted-for people in Chechnya is 930, said Nikolai Britvin, the deputy of Russian president‘s plenipotentiary representative in southern federal region.
Beslan Gantamirov resigned as mayor of the Chechen capital of Grozny, saying it is no longer possible for him to hold the post. The decision comes after the finding that Gantamirov‘s position is not the result of an appointment procedure asserted in one of Russian President‘s decrees.
Friday, May 18
Federal forces carried out a special operation at the State University of Grozny, following a reported increase in the number of criminal offenses committed at the university. Subsequently, students and teachers held a rally against the detention of their colleagues during the operation.
Saturday, May 19
No major events.
Sunday, May 20
No major events.
Compiled by Prague Watchdog
|
