Author: Lawrence Uzzell / Political Geography: Europe

1. Chechnya Weekly:Putin Paints Rosy Picture Of Chechnya

Author:: Mayrbek Vachagaev and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: President Putin touched on the North Caucasus generally and Chechnya specifically in his annual State of the Nation address, which he delivered to the Russian parliament on April 25. “I hope for energetic work to strengthen security in the southern part of Russia and firmly establish the values of freedom and justice there,” Putin said in the speech, a transcript of which was posted on the Kremlin's website, kremlin.ru. “Developing the economy, creating new jobs and building social and production infrastructure are prerequisites for this work. I support the idea of holding parliamentary elections in the Republic of Chechnya this year. These elections should lay the foundation for stability and for developing democracy in this region. I want to note that the North Caucasus region already has good conditions for achieving rapid economic growth. The region has one of Russia's best-developed transport infrastructures, a qualified labor force, and surveys show that the number of people in this region wanting to start up their own business is higher than the national average. At the same time, however, the shadow economy accounts for a bigger share in this region and there is criminalization of economic relations in general. In this respect, the authorities should not only work on strengthening the law enforcement and court systems in the region, but should also help develop business activity among the population.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

2. Chechnya Weekly: Rebels And Spetsnaz Shoot It Out

Author:: John B. Dunlop and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Russian special forces carried out an operation on April 15 against rebels holed up in an apartment building in Grozny. While six militants were killed in the ensuing battle – which lasted between seven and nine hours, depending on the press report – five Federal Security Service (FSB) commandos also died. According to unconfirmed reports, another two commandos were seriously wounded. It was the largest loss of life for FSB commandos in a shootout with insurgents since last September's school siege in Beslan, North Ossetia, during which ten FSB spetsnaz commandos were killed and 26 were left wounded. Kommersant reported on April 20 that the rebels killed in the battle had been identified as Muslim Gakaev (a.k.a. Dungo), a rebel commander from the village of Elistanzhi in the Chechnya's Vedeno district, along with five of his bodyguards.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

3. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 11

Author:: Mayrbek Vachagaev, Paul Tumelty, and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Press reports and official statements concerning the circumstances of Aslan Maskhadov's death, far from clearing things up, made them even murkier. In his May 8, Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the federal forces in the North Caucasus, said the rebel leader had been killed when security forces used explosives to penetrate the bunker beneath a house in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt in which Maskhadov was hiding with three associates. Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, meanwhile, claimed that Maskhadov was killed when a bodyguard who was next to him in the cramped bunker “carelessly handled his gun.” Kadyrov also claimed that those who took part in the operation against Maskhadov had planned to take him prisoner, not to kill him. The following day, however, Kommersant quoted Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov as saying that Maskahdov was killed when commandos tossed grenades into the bunker after Maskhadov refused to surrender. On March 10, Izvestia quoted Kadyrov as saying that he had been “joking” when he said that Maskhadov was accidentally shot and killed by his own bodyguard. Kadyrov, however, refused to discuss exactly how Maskhadov was killed. Meanwhile, the Rossia state television on March 13 broadcast an interview with a Federal Security Service (FSB) commando who participated in the operation against Maskhadov, who said that commandos did not negotiate with the rebel leader before blowing up his bunker because he was wearing a suicide bomber's belt and they assumed he would not surrender.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, Georgia, and North Caucasus

4. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 10

Author:: John B. Dunlop and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Aslan Maskhadov was killed on March 8. Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the federal forces in the North Caucasus, reported that members of the Alfa and Vympel special force units of the Federal Security Service (FSB) had killed the rebel leader during a special operation in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt. FSB Chairman Nikolai Patrushev was shown on Russian television informing President Vladimir Putin about Maskhadov's death. The Russian president said that those involved in the special operation should be decorated. Footage of Maskhadov's body was shown on NTV television.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

5. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 9

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: President Vladimir Putin praised staff members of the Federal Security Service (FSB) on February 28 for “successful special operations” in the North Caucasus this year, stating that that more than 200 rebels have been killed so far in 2005, RIA Novosti reported. “The operational capabilities of this department that have been improved recently should result in better performance,” Putin told FSB officers, who were part of a group of senior officials from different agencies meeting with the president in the Kremlin. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov evinced similar confidence on March 1, telling German and Italian reporters in Moscow that there is “no enemy” for the Russian army to fight in Chechnya nowadays, Itar-Tass reported. “The Defense Ministry has only 30,000 servicemen in the combined federal forces in the North Caucasus,” Ivanov said. “These are servicemen of the Main Intelligence Department of the General Staff [GRU], the 42nd motorized infantry division and two battalions staffed with local residents.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

6. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 8

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Chechnya was put on a “reinforced security regime” on February 21 with the approach of the end of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov's unilateral ceasefire on February 23. Mosokovsky komsomolets in its February 21 edition quoted a spokesman for the regional operational headquarters of Russia's military operation in Chechnya as saying that the likelihood of renewed attacks was enhanced by the fact that February 23 is the 61st anniversary of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Kuala Lumpur

7. Chechnya Weekly: Rebels And Feds Battle Over Ceasefire

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell and Marc Brody
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Gen.-Major Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the Russian military operation in the North Caucasus, claimed on February 14 that Federal Security Service (FSB) and Interior Ministry forces had carried out a special operation to destroy a group of rebels, Interfax reported. Shabalkin said the rebel group numbered up to 15 and was located along the administrative border between the Shali and Groznensky rural districts near the villages of Starye Atagi and Novye Atagi. Six of the rebels were reportedly killed and ten escaped. Shabalkin said the security forces launched the operation after receiving intelligence that a large rebel group was planning attacks on federal military installations. “An ambush was set up on the route along which the bandits were likely to move,” he said. “Around 00:30 on Monday, a group of fighters were spotted. Federal forces went into action against them. The band was dispersed. According to preliminary information, around five militants were killed.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

8. Chechnya Weekly: Basaev Denies Rumors Of His Death

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Chechen warlord Shamil Basaev appeared in a four-minute video posted on the separatist Kavkazcenter website on February 8 aimed at dispelling speculation that he had been killed. On February 2, the head of the Abkhazia's State Security Service, Mikhail Tarba, referred to rumors that Basaev had been killed, noting that according to one of them, Basaev was killed as a result of disputes with “Arab mercenaries,” while according to another, he died as a result of “kidney problems.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

9. Chechnya Weekly: Charges Filed Related To Maskhadov's Missing Relatives

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell and Andrew McGregor
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Vladimir Kravchenko, the Chechen Republic's Prosecutor, announced on January 31 that his office had on January 27 opened eight criminal cases related to the kidnapping of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov's relatives, Interfax reported. Kravchenko stressed that the cases were launched by the law-enforcement agencies in connection with the wide “public interest” in – and numerous press reports about – the alleged kidnappings. Preliminary findings suggest that all the abductions took place last December, he said. This, it should be noted, is what Memorial reported earlier this month after conducting its own investigation. The human rights group listed the relatives of Maskhadov – his sister, two brothers, two nephews and three distant relatives – and detailed the circumstances of their abduction. The Memorial report also cited various eye-witnesses, including GRU commandos, who identified the kidnappers as kadyrovtsy – individuals subordinated to Chechnya's first deputy prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov (see Chechnya Weekly, January 26). Kravchenko, however, said that there is no evidence that “power structures” or “law-enforcement” agencies were involved in the kidnappings. There are “many versions” of what happened, he said, including kidnapping for ransom, which has become a “profitable business” in Chechnya.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

10. Chechnya Weekly: Chechen Rights Activist Abducted

Author:: John B. Dunlop and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Makhmut Magomadov, a Chechen human rights activist who previously served as a deputy prosecutor during Aslan Maskhadov's presidency, was abducted in Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district on January 20. Since 2000, he has worked as a legal expert for the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), the International Protection Center and the Chechnya Committee of National Salvation, helping victims of human rights abuses bring their cases before the European Court on Human Rights. According to the IHF, in 1992, following a long career with the police in Donskoi, Tula Oblast, Magomadov became an investigator for the Chechen Ministry of Interior. From 1994 to 1996 he worked in the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Interim Administration of Chechnya and later as the republic's Assistant Prosecutor General for criminal investigations. He also headed a task force set up to fight kidnappings in Chechnya that was, according to the IHF, “instrumental in freeing hundreds of kidnapped persons.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

11. Chechnya Weekly: Security Forces Battle Militants In Dagestan

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Nikolai Gryaznov, head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) directorate in Dagestan, said on January 17 that the body of Rasul Makasharipov, a.k.a. “Muslim,” was among the remains of five militants recovered in the ruins of a house in a village located on the outskirts of the republican capital of Makhachkala, where a shoot-out with security forces lasting more than 15 hours took place on January 15-16, Itar-Tass reported.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

12. Chechnya Weekly:Ramzan Frees His Sister

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell and John Reuter
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Tensions between Chechnya and Dagestan escalated this week after police in the Dagestani city of Khasavyurt detained Zulai Kadyorva, sister of Chechnya's first deputy prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov. Son of assassinated pro-Moscow Chechen president, Akhmed Kadyrov, Ramzan heads the republic's infamous presidential security service. According to the version of events published by the Gazeta newspaper's website, Gzt.ru, on January 11, OMON police officers on January 10 stopped a car carrying Ms. Kadyrova on the federal highway leading into Khasavyurt, after which Ms. Kadyrova identified herself and explained that she was traveling to the city for medical treatment. With her were two members of her brother's security service but only one of them was carrying his security service I.D. The three were taken to Khasavyurt's Interior Ministry office, or GOVD – that is, the Khasavyurt city police headquarters – after which Ms. Kadyrova reportedly became ill and, according to one police officer who was present, fainted.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

13. Chechnya Weekly: Hero Of Russia

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: On December 29, President Vladimir Putin conferred Russia's highest award, the Hero of the Russian Federation, on Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow Chechen government's first deputy prime minister and son of the late Chechen president. According to the corresponding presidential decree, the younger Kadyrov was awarded “for courage and heroism displayed during the discharge of official duties,” Newsru.com reported on December 29. Ramzan's father, Akhmad Kadyrov, was awarded a “Hero of the Russian Federation” on May 11, two days after he was killed by a bomb detonated beneath the VIP stands in Grozny's Dinamo Stadium. Ramzan said that the award “above all recognizes as heroes the whole long-suffering Chechen people. And we will continue…an uncompromising struggle against terrorism, extremism and banditry, and thereby protect the interests of the whole Russian people.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

14. Chechnya Weekly:Observers Note Tenth Anniversary Of Chechen Intervention

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 12-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: December 11 marked the tenth anniversary of the Russian military intervention that began the first of the two modern Russo-Chechen wars. Russian, Western and Chechen media alike featured commentaries on the start of then President Boris Yeltsin's campaign to “restore constitutional order” in the breakaway republic and what has happened over the intervening decade.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

15. Chechnya Weekly: Turkish Demonstrators Denounce Putin

Author:: Emil Pain and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 12-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Two thousand demonstrators marched in Istanbul, Turkey to protest President Vladimir Putin's visit to Ankara, Newsru.com reported on December 7. The demonstrators carried placards reading “Murderer Putin!” and “Get Out of Turkey!” A group of protesters from among Turkey's large community with roots in the Caucasus laid wreaths at the Russian consulate in Istanbul.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, Asia, and Istanbul

16. Chechnya Weekly: Alksnis Wants Soldiers' Mothers Investigated

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 10-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Viktor Alksnis, one of the Russian parliament's most strident ultra-nationalists, harshly assailed the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers last week for its recent offer to help promote peace negotiations in Chechnya. Alksnis, a member of the pro-Kremlin Rodina (Motherland) party, called on the federal procuracy to investigate that human-rights movement's sources of funding. The clear implication was that the soldiers' mothers are in league with western forces deliberately seeking to destroy the Russian military.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

17. Chechnya Weekly: Appointed Governors: Disastrous For The Caucasus?

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 10-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The federal government has no visible long-term strategy for handling the crisis in the North Caucasus, one of Russia's leading specialists in the region told correspondent Dmitry Taratorin of Novye izvestia in an interview published on October 15. “The federal center's policy for the Caucasus can be stated exhaustively in the phrase 'we have power, so we don't need wisdom,'” said Sergei Arutiunov, director of the section for the study of the peoples of the Caucasus in Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

18. Chechnya Weekly: Beslan Terrorists Executed Schoolboys…

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell and Zaindi Choltaev
Publication Date:: 10-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Further confirmation that the Beslan terrorists killed schoolboys, not just grown men, in cold blood came in an October 4 article in Novaya gazeta by Kseniya Leonova, who interviewed 14-year-old ex-hostage Andrei Kuznetsov and his mother. Andrei is convinced that his short height saved his life; he said that the terrorists forced his taller schoolmates along with the adult male hostages to carry boxes of weapons up from the basement—”and then they shot many of them.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

19. Chechnya Weekly: Officials Statements On Beslan: A Study In Obfuscation

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: One of the most striking features of the Beslan atrocity and its aftermath has been the unwillingness of Russia's top leadership to state clearly and candidly what it knows, or even what it thinks it knows. Though officials have repeatedly made with an air of great certitude statements that later turned out to be untrue—or could be seen to be manifestly untrue even while those officials were making them—most often these statements have come from mid-echelon officials, not from the very top. Vladimir Putin's public stance has shown a combination of fanaticism and evasiveness. Hence the importance of the detailed oral report to Putin by Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, broadcast in full by the state-controlled electronic media on September 8.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

20. Chechnya Weekly: Officials Statements On Beslan: A Study In Obfuscation

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: One of the most striking features of the Beslan atrocity and its aftermath has been the unwillingness of Russia's top leadership to state clearly and candidly what it knows, or even what it thinks it knows. Though officials have repeatedly made with an air of great certitude statements that later turned out to be untrue—or could be seen to be manifestly untrue even while those officials were making them—most often these statements have come from mid-echelon officials, not from the very top. Vladimir Putin's public stance has shown a combination of fanaticism and evasiveness. Hence the importance of the detailed oral report to Putin by Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, broadcast in full by the state-controlled electronic media on September 8.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

21. Chechnya Weekly: Some Passports Are More Equal Than Others

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: As readers will recall from the July 28 issue of Chechnya Weekly, the strongest rival to the Kremlin's preferred candidate in this coming weekend's special election for the presidency of Chechnya's pro- Moscow administration was forced out of the race last month. The election authorities claimed that the details in Malik Saidullaev's passport were not fully accurate. In an August 5 article for Novaya gazeta entitled “Passportgate,” Orkhan Dzhemal has found some piquant details about the passport of Kremlin favorite Alu Alkhanov.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

22. Chechnya Weekly: Saidullaev Removed From Chechnya's Presidential Race

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: On July 22, the election officials of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration formally rejected the registration of Malik Saidullaev as a candidate in the republic's special presidential election scheduled for the end of August. The pro-Moscow authorities thus removed from contention the one serious competitor to Kremlin-anointed candidate Alu Alkhanov, who is now being given saturation, Putinstyle coverage by the state-controlled broadcast media.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

23. Chechnya Weekly: Abramov Narrowly Escapes Assassination…

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: A mine exploded in Grozny on July 13 just as a large, highly guarded convoy was passing which included the car of Sergei Abramov, who has of course been acting president of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration since the assassination of Akhmad Kadyrov more than two months ago. Abramov, who was riding an armored Volga limousine, was not harmed—but one of his bodyguards in an accompanying car was killed and another wounded. Abramov's adviser Andrei Aleksintsev was also seriously wounded. An official of the republic's Interior Ministry told journalists that the mine was probably detonated by a remote control.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

24. Chechnya Weekly: Holocaust Museum Hosts Panel On Chechnya

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: This evening (Wednesday, July 14), the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., is to host a panel of experts on the topic “Chechnya after a Decade of Destruction.” Featured speakers are Chechen medical doctor Khassan Baiev, author of The Oath: A Chechen Surgeon Under Fire; Rachel Denber of Human Rights Watch; and photojournalist Stanley Greene, author of Open Wound: Chechnya, 1994-2003. The panel is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

25. Chechnya Weekly: Federal forces failed to block escaping ingushetia raiders.

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Just how passive was the federal military during last month's rebel raid on Ingushetia? Issa Kostoev, who represents Ingushetia in the upper house of the federal parliament, provided further revelations in an interview with Sanobar Shermatova published by the weekly Moskovskie novosti on July 1. According to Kostoev, federal forces were summoned from neighboring Chechnya and Northern Ossetia, but halted at the Ingushetian border, just a few kilometers from the guerrilla attacks. “It's obvious even to someone with no military expertise,” he said, “that the guerrillas were going to have to leave [Ingushetia] in the direction of the Assa Gorge [in southern Ingushetia]; all other routes were closed to them. And that is just what they did. One group escaped to the gorge through the village of Nesterovskaya [near Ingushetia's eastern border with Chechnya], another through Surkhakhi and Ekazhevo [just southeast of Nazran]. It would seem that those were the places where they should have been blocked—but that was not done.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

26. Chechnya Weekly: Ingushetia Raids Leave Officials Blaming One Another.

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: On June 27, a conflict surfaced between Ingushetia's president Murat Zyazikov and his former employer, the Federal Security Service (FSB). According to a report published that same day by the Newsru.com website, the Ingushetian branch of the FSB claimed it learned in advance that a guerrilla raid was being prepared and warned Zyazikov's Interior Ministry. Zyazikov denied the claim, telling the Interfax news agency that “we did not receive any advance information about preparations for an attack by the guerrillas.” The FSB, however, stuck to its position: According to report posted on the Grani.ru website later on June 27, Sergei Koryakov, head of the FSB's branch in Ingushetia, backed his deputy Andrei Konin's earlier claim that the agency received information about the impending attack half an hour before it started. Directly contradicting Zyazikov, Koryakov continued to insist that the FSB had shared this information with Ingushetia's Interior Ministry. Zyazikov, his turn, was quoted by Izvestia on June 28 as holding fast to his own version. He hinted that those who failed to share advance information—“you know who they are”—were guilty either of “treason, or carelessness, or disorderly behavior, or irresponsibility; I think that all of the above were present in equal measure.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

27. Chechnya Weekly:Guerrillas Strike Ingushetia's Capital.

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: In what appeared to be a bold escalation in tactics and targeting by Chechnya's separatist guerrillas, the headquarters of Ingushetia's interior ministry in the republic's capital of Nazran was seized on the evening of June 21 by gunmen shouting an Islamic slogan popular among those guerrillas. Such a direct infantry assault on such a key central headquarters of the pro-Moscow authorities, as distinct from a suicide truck-bombing or the clandestine planting of a mine, had not taken place for a long time either in Ingushetia or in Chechnya.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Moscow

28. Chechnya Weekly: Ingushetia: last camp closes, but many refugees remain.

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: On June 10 the last remaining tents of the last remaining Chechen refugee camp in Ingushetia were dismantled in a modest ceremony. According to a June 11 article by Ivan Sukhov for Vremya Novostei, the authorities decided not to make a grand spectacle of the occasion. Some 576 former residents of the “Satsita” camp returned to Chechnya, while another 90 decided to seek other living quarters within Ingushetia.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

29. Chechnya Weekly: Moscow's body count doesn't add up.

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Yelena She sternina is not the first Russian journalist to do it, but she has performed a valuable service by bringing the figures up to date. The correspondent for Russky Kurier reported in that newspaper's June 3 issue on a simple exercise in arithmetic: adding up the cumulative total of rebel guerrillas which the federal forces claim to have killed in the various statements of their press spokesmen, and comparing that total with the number of guerrillas who, according to those same federal military sources, are still fighting. It turns out that if the numbers of those ostensibly killed were accurate, there would not be a single rebel fighter left.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Moscow

30. Chechnya Weekly: Final push to drive chechen refugees out of ingushetia?

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The Russian and Ingush authorities are making what they apparently hope will be the final push in driving Chechen refugees out of their tent camps in Ingushetia. The sole remaining camp, Satsita, is due to be closed on June 10, according to the Federal Migration Service. The deputy head of that agency, Igor Yunash, told the Interfax news agency on May 27 that “there's no point in keeping the camp.” The recent upsurge of violence in Chechnya has apparently had no effect on the authorities' refugee policies.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

31. Chechnya Weekly: Ramzan kadyrov says he knows who killed his father.

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 05-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: In an obscure aside during an interview with the popular weekly Argumenty i Fakty, Ramzan Kadyrov said that he knows who it was who killed his father. He chose not to be more precise except to say that the mastermind of the May 9 assassination was neither Shamil Basaev (who has claimed responsibility) nor Aslan Maskhadov. “Maskhadov does not have enough strength or courage to do such a thing,” Ramzan said. “He was afraid of my father.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

32. Chechnya Weekly: Is Georgia Starting To See Chechnya Moscow's Way?

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 05-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Georgia's new government under President Mikheil Saakashvili may be tilting toward Russia on Chechnya-related issues in order to win concessions in other areas. In early May, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights sent an open letter to Saakashvili expressing concern over two Chechens living in Georgia, Islam Khashiev and Hussein Alkhanov, who may have been secretly handed over to Russian authorities even though a Tbilisi court had acquitted them of violating border regulations. The two have disappeared and reportedly are now in Russian hands.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Paris, Asia, and Georgia

33. Chechnya Weekly: American peace group condemns kadyrov killing.

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 05-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) has condemned the May 9 assassination of Akhmad Kadyrov, calling on May 10 for a renewed commitment by both parties to end the war through peace negotiations.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, America, Europe, and Asia

34. Chechnya Weekly: Russian Security Agency Report-Edly Targeting Widows

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB; the renamed KGB) appears now to be using a new, stunningly self-defeating tactic to try to forestall possible terrorist attacks: kidnapping widows of Chechen men already killed by those same agencies. A handful of such widows have become suicide bombers, and the FSB is now seizing women for no reason other than that they are widows and therefore might, in theory, become terrorists in the future. According to an April 8 article by Julius Strauss of the London Daily Telegraph, the Russian human rights center Memorial has reported ten such kidnappings in January alone.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

35. Chechnya Weekly: No Letup In Pressure On Refugees

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: According to an Interfax report on March 17, the federal, Chechen and Ingush authorities are continuing with their plans to dismantle the remaining refugee camps in Ingushetia, and human rights activists are continuing to protest that this is a tactic to force refugees to return to Chechnya against their will. Mompash Machuev, deputy head of the Kadyrov administration's committee for refugees, told the news agency that the Sputnik camp in Ingushetia--one of only two that remain in that republic--is to be closed by the end of March, and all its tents dismantled. Lyudmila Alekseeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, commented “I continue to insist that the refugees are returning to Chechnya not voluntarily but because they are being forced to. Those who truly wanted to return have long since done so.”
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Human Rights
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, Moscow, and Ingushetia

36. Chechnya Weekly: Minister For Maskhadov Government Surrenders

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Pro-Moscow security agencies in Chechnya won a major victory on March 7 with the surrender of Magomed Khambiev, minister of defense in the underground separatist government of Aslan Maskhadov. Many, though not all, reports of this event in the Russian media have failed to mention the key tactical method by which this victory was apparently achieved: The systematic targeting, kidnapping and torture of the Khambiev family's relatives.
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Government
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, and Moscow

37. Chechnya Weekly: Pressure Intensifies To Close Ingush Refugee Camps

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: As of March 1, the federal and Ingush authorities had not fully succeeded in their campaign to close all the refugee camps in Ingushetia by that date. But they were getting closer. An official of the Kadyrov administration told Interfax on March 1 that the Bart refugee camp in the Ingush town of Karabulak had been officially closed. That leaves only two tent camps still operating in the Ingush republic: Satsita and Sputnik.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Ingushetia

38. Chechnya Weekly: Newspaper Describes Deplorable Conditions Awaiting Refugess; Human Rights Report Reaches Similar Conclusions

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: What awaits the refugees now living in Ingushetia if the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds in its stated goal of getting all of them to return to Chechnya by March? Anna Politkovskaya reported in the February 16 issue of Novayagazeta on her visit to the hamlet of Okruzhnaya on the outskirts of Grozny—which construction workers hired by the Kadyrov administration are supposedly making livable.
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Human Rights
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, and Ingushetia

39. Chechnya Weekly: No Evidence Required: Chechens Blamed For Subway Bombing

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Last week's terrorist atrocity on the Moscow subway system, in addition to killing dozens of unsuspecting civilians, underlined an ugly reality of Russian politics. The Putin administration has now created, or at least thinks it has created, an emotional atmosphere such that it can blame terrorist acts on Chechens even when there is no specific evidence or claim of responsibility.
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Politics
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, and Moscow

40. Chechnya Weekly: Questions Raised About UN Education Aid

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The Jamestown Foundation: Chechnya Weekly Table of Contents Questions Raised About UN Education Aid Pressure Intensifies to Close Refugee Camps Kadyrov Maneuvers For More Influential Role Saudi Arabia and Russia: A Budding Rapprochement? Kremlin Rights Observer is Removed From Post International Community Criticized For Chechnya Response Thoughts on Dubrovka.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, and Saudi Arabia

41. Chechnya Weekly: New Questions Arise Over Hostage Rescue Mission

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 11-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Did the U.S. and Russian governments both know that, when Russian commandos stormed Moscow's Dubrovka theater in October of 2002, the Chechen terrorists inside it had already agreed to release several of their hostages, including U.S. citizen Sandy Booker? Booker's fiance, Svetlana Gubareva, says that the answer is Yes. Booker and Gubareva's 13-year-old daughter, Sasha, both died in the tragedy; Gubareva was also taken hostage but survived.
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Government
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Europe, Asia, and Moscow

42. Chechnya Weekly: What do Kremlin Changes Mean For Chechnya?

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 11-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The recent upheavals in the Kremlin, including the resignation of Aleksandr Voloshin as President Vladimir Putinís chief of staff, could portend major changes in the Kremlinís policies on Chechnya. Voloshin was known as a key architect of those policies and especially as a political ally of Akhmad Kadyrov, whose inauguration he attended in person last month. Conversely, the so-called ìsilovikiîó—the hard-liners of the military and secret police establishment, widely seen as the winners in the latest Kremlin faction fightó—have often been hostile to Kadyrov, whom they see as unreliable.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

43. Chechnya Weekly: Chechen Security Sweep Victims Still Alive?

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 10-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Many of the Chechens who have disappeared in “zachistki” security sweeps are still alive in Russian captivity, in the view of human rights activist Kheda Saratova. The head of the Vozvrashchenie (“Return”) foundation told correspondent Aleksandr Kolesnichenko of Novye izvestia that the organization has assembled more than a thousand individual case files. Vozvrashchenie was created only a month ago in Grozny, for the purpose of finding as many of the kidnapped as possible.
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Human Rights
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

44. Chechnya Weekly: Election Resolves Few Tensions in Chechnya

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 10-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The purging from Chechnya's government structures of sup porters of the main opposition candidates in the recent election has apparently intensified since October 5. Marina Perevozkina of Moskovsky komsomolets reported in an October 21 article on her conversation with Salavat Gebertaev. He is the mayor of Urus-Martan, which lies southwest of Grozny, and was one of the leaders of the movement for the Urus-Martan district to secede from Dudaev's jurisdiction in 1994. Dudaev's army stormed his town four times. When Maskhadov came to power, Gebertaev was sentenced to death and for some time hid abroad; after returning he survived an assassination attempt that he believes was organized by Maskhadov's circle. “It would seem,” suggested Perevozkina, “that Moscow should be relying on precisely such people in Chechnya. But Gebertaev is a relative and friend of Malik Saidullaev [who tried to run for president against Kadyrov]. On top of that, he committed a terrible crime: He received from Saidullaev and distributed some 500 wheelchairs and 2,000 crutches. Because of this the head of the district administration told him on the day after the election: “From now on we will not work with you.”
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Government
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, and Moscow

45. Chechnya Weekly: Military Voting Yields Unexpected Result

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 10-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Among the few surprises to come from Chechnya's election day on October 5, so far the most interesting is the revelation that the Russian troops who took part voted overwhelmingly against Akhmad Kadyrov. A respected Moscow journalist, recently returned from Grozny, told Chechnya Weekly on October 14 that some 90 percent of the Russian troops who cast ballots chose the option (not available in American elections) of voting “against all” of the candidates. The journalist said that the servicemen must have done this under the direction of their commanders, which provides further confirmation of the deep alienation between Kadyrov and the Russian military.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, and Moscow

46. Chechnya Weekly: On the Eve of Elections in Chechnya

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell and Zaindi Choltaev
Publication Date:: 10-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: We left Sunzhensky district early in the morning, heading for Grozny from the west of Chechnya. After the turn to Assinovskaya, still not far from the Ingush border, we came upon engineering reconnaissance troops: Several tanks and military trucks, soldiers walking along the sides of the road. Civilian cars started to pile up behind us. Suddenly the soldiers stopped, squatted down, and aimed their machine guns and rifles at a spot in the field. So did the large caliber gun on the armed troop carrier. We heard an explosion. When the dust settled, our driver commented: “Those are just games. They put the explosives there themselves, and then they set them off.” I frequently heard similar talk. Many people in Chechnya have observed how the soldiers, in order to receive money and decorations, plant explosives and set up fake “battle situations.”
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Elections
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Chechnya

47. Chechnya Weekly: Putin Leveling Accusations at US Officials?

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 09-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: In a remarkably under reported statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin has apparently accused lower echelon U.S. government officials of meeting with known Chechen terrorists. On September 20, a few days before flying to the United States for his summit meeting with President George W. Bush, Putin met with several U.S. television journalists. Asked about Chechnya, the Russian president gave a long answer that mostly repeated points that he and his spokesmen have made before. But toward the end of his response he said the following (as translated by Chechnya Weekly from the text placed on the official website Kremlin.ru): “The United States has now voted in the Security Council in favor of recognizing several individuals as international terrorists. The State Department has announced that it has included several figures in its list of international terrorists. But unfortunately we know that on the executive level there are continuing attempts at contacts with some people under the pretense that what's happening is only work with the opposition. Even with people who are included on the United Nations list. These people come, say that they are 'political activists' and present them- selves in all sorts of guises. But I assure you, I know about this precisely—they are maintaining connections with their allies in Afghanistan, including those who have gone there from the Northern Caucasus of Russia and who are fighting with arms in their hands against American soldiers. Such absurdities on the working level must be stopped, the sooner the better.”
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Government
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, Russia, United States, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, and North Caucasus

48. Chechnya Weekly: No Evidence of Chechens in Afghanistan

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 09-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Have Chechen separatist guerrillas been fighting against the United States and its allies in places such as Iraq or Afghanistan—and if so, how many have been captured or killed? The U.S. government has been strikingly passive in seeking to learn (or, at least, in publicly disclosing) the answer to that question. Chechnya Weekly began pressing for a precise, concrete answer months ago, but we have yet to get one from the White House, Pentagon, or State Department.
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Government
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, Russia, United States, Iraq, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

49. Chechnya Weekly: Candidate Drops Out of Presidential Race

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 09-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: In a surprising announcement, Khusein Dzhabrailov has with drawn his candidacy for the presidency of Chechnya. The Moscow businessman, who had managed to win such potent endorsements as those of Bislan Gantemirov and Ruslan Khasbulatov, failed to give any substantive explanation for his decision. As reported on September 2 by the Lenta.ru website, his office merely announced that he had “come to the conclusion that he can provide significantly greater service to society in his present role.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, and Moscow

50. Chechnya Weekly: Crisis For Refugees in Ingushetia

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 08-2003
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Pressure against Chechen refugees in Ingushetia has intensified further in recent days, Aleksandr Podrabinek of the newspaper Russky kurier reported on August 18. Hooligans are throwing rocks at the tents during the night, he wrote, and the tents are also being besieged at night by cars that honk their horns so that the refugees cannot sleep. The Kadyrov administration's prime minister, Anatoly Popov, who is now serving formally as “acting president” while Kadyrov pursues his own candidacy, told the news agency Interfax on August 13 that all of the tent camps for Chechen refugees in Ingushetia must be closed by October 1. That is just four days before the election.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, and Ingushetia

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS