Chariots of darkness (weekly review) By Vadim Borshchev, special to Prague Watchdog
The fear of danger lurking behind dark tinted auto glass is a legacy of the swashbuckling 1990s, when for a long time Russia’s roads fell under the sway of the “Mafia boys” and other anti-social elements that scared the daylights out of the man in the street, whom the State had abandoned to his fate. Such tinting was the hallmark of the gangster vehicle. During this period not every traffic cop who spied a black BMW with darkened windows was able to summon up the courage to stop it with his magic wand. Ordinary citizens also dreamed of a personal ivory tower of their own. Concealing their identities, they were given the chance to become anonymous Zorros, temporarily invisible and free from state control – a welcome change from life in Soviet times.
Since then much water has flowed under the bridge, and nowadays the dark tinting of car windows, like so much else, has come under a total ban in Russia. Little by little, the state system has been restoring its power over a reality that had become too fractious. The authorities have explained their actions, however, not by a wish to reduce the number of anonymous drivers on the roads but out of a concern for Russia’s citizens. Tinted windows, they say, reduce visibility and hence contribute to accidents. The right to travel behind securely tinted glass is now universally the privilege of public officials, members of the security services, or simply people with connections – wealthy businessmen who have bought the appropriate permissions. Darkened auto glass with zero visibility now more or less enjoys a status equal to that of flashing roof lights.
For people who live in Chechnya, on the other hand, dark window-tinted Lada saloon cars have become a symbol of the nightmare that has gripped the republic during the past six or seven years. Kadyrov’s militia and the republic’s security services are mainly equipped with fleets of these vehicles. The hundreds of people who have been detained and who then subsequently vanished without trace were taken from their homes in these chariots of death. Even today, these cars are free to roam the Chechen roads. Resembling black capsules, they drive into the courtyards of residential complexes, inspiring a chill of horror and an immediate impulse to prayer. The victims who are seized and bundled into such vehicles cannot try to attract the attention of casual observers by signalling with their arms. In addition, the kidnappers are able to remain undetected and unidentified en route as they travel. In Chechnya and Ingushetia these black cars are in many ways akin to the Black Marias that were used by the NKVD to take Soviet citizens to jail during the 1930s and 40s.
But there are signs that here in Chechnya, too, all this may be about to change. Last week there was the official announcement of a campaign to outlaw dark tinted windows, with the launching on October 16 of an operation codenamed "Car". An end to the practice of kidnapping is long overdue, and any government decision in this area is better late than never. In his statement, Chechnya’s Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said that the campaign’s purpose to identify stolen motor vehicles and cars with excessively tinted windows, as it was believed that most of them were used by criminals. He could have added that the criminals often carry passes issued by the government departments for which they work, but perhaps that is classified information.
Given the present troubled situation in Chechnya, there can be no doubt that a campaign against window-tinting will be highly effective. Attempts by vehicle owners and drivers to resist the new rules will be met with the most radical counter-measures. During a similar campaign conducted in July, the slightest infringement of the new regulations was interpreted as wilful disobedience. At best, the law-breakers lost their auto glass, which on occasion was removed with blows from the butts of assault rifles.
In July the only problem was that the police concentrated most of their attention on ordinary citizens, while disregarding those of their colleagues who use dark tinted-window vehicles for transporting people they have abducted. But apparently the struggle is to be fought in phases. The unenlightened elements and car thieves are only the first victims, and now it is the turn of the criminals who carry security service passes. No longer will they be able to hide behind tinted windows from the all-seeing eye of the Law.
Photo: "xAuto". (Translation by DM) (P.DM)
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