Actual News from Chechnya

Russias President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to observe one days mourning on Monday, October 28th, following the tragic aftermath of the act of terror in Moscow. Major TV and radio companies have given up commercials and entertainment programmes. Theatre companies and concert halls have followed suit, and numerous sport competitions have been called off. Classes at Moscow secondary and trade schools began with observing a minutes silence to commemorate the victims. Although classes are held in keeping with curricula, all sports competition and gatherings have been cancelled. Almost all cordons have been removed from around the site of the tragedy the theatre building and everything that may remind one of the recent horrible developments has been taken away from the nearby quarters. A wall of flowers that hundreds and thousands of Muscovites have been taking to the theatre proves that the nation mourns for the innocent victims.
(more about teract in Moscow...)

Two days after the end of the hostage drama in Moscow special security measures are in effect. Special services employees continue to search for people involved in the terrorist act. Interiour forces have been put on high alert in connection with a special operation launched by the city authorities and are patrolling the streets guarding the capitals basic infrastructures and checking suspiciously looking individuals for identification papers.
The measures have already brought first results. Last night employees of the Criminal Investigation Department detained an active member of a Chechen criminal gang. The search of his car produced about 400 grams of ammonite, video tapes and vakhhabite literature.
In the course of operations throughout Moscow yesterday four people were detained who were carrying weapons or ammunition. A 29-year-old resident of Vedeno, a district town in Chechnya, carried the RGD-5 grenade and a homemade explosive. A 35-year-old resident of Grozny, detained in downtown Moscow, had 37 cartridges of the Kalashnikov automatic rifle on him. Another detainee, a 31-year-old Georgian, was traveling with the Makarov pistol. It has been established that all detained arrived in Moscow the day before or during the hostage crisis and were staying unregistered.
Investigating teams are looking into the detainees possible involvement in organized crime and the recent hostage taking.
(more about teract in Moscow...)

Terrorist act in Moscow

The official death toll among hostages reached 118 people, including 64 men and 54 women. The youngest captive died in the course of the storming operation is about 13-14 years old. The first victim of the terrorist act was 25 year old Olga Romanova. According to the Prosecutor Generals Office, she lived near the theatre center and attempted to enter the building on the first day of the standoff and was immediately shot dead by the terrorists. Hostages reminisce that a girl with short fair hair entered saying to the people they were nothing to afraid of, but then the terrorists took her out the hall and three or four shots followed. Friday evening in the phone conversations with the Russian Presidents envoy to the Southern Federal District Viktor Kazanzev and President of the Chamber of Commerce Evgeni Primakov the terrorists voiced definite threats that they would start killing the people. At about 2 AM on Saturday in accordance with the terrorists two emergency cars came to the center to take the body of the 29-year old man and a woman with gun wounds. Over 600 hostages released in the storming operation were taken to hospitals. According to the latest information, 239 have been discharged, 405 more are still in the medical centers, including 9 children.

(more about terract...)

Issue 38
28.10.02

Actual News

28 October 2002  Lieutenant-general Sergey Makarov new commander of joint force on the North Caucasus

Lieutenant-general Sergey Makarov has taken the office of the commander of the joint force on the North Caucasus. He was appointed by the decree of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. S. Makarov was born in 1952. He entered the military service in 1970. He moved all the way up the commanders ladder, down from platoon commander up to the army commander. The general has a long track record on the Caucasus and in Chechnya in particular. He led a training tank regiment in Shali till 1992. After the events in 1991-1992, he withdrew the regiment without surrendering hardware and armament to Chechen separatists. S. Makarov entered the first Chechen campaign as a commander of the 135th detached infantry subdivision. He formed combined battalion for moving into Chechnya himself. In 1998, after graduating from the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, he was appointed Defense Ministry representative to the deputy commander-in-chief of interior troops of the Interior Ministry in the North Caucasus. When the counter-terrorist operation began in 1999, general S. Makarov was deputy commander of the operational force Vostok led by general Gennady Troshev that entered Chechnya from the direction of Dagestan. In January 2000 he became commander of the force. Afterward, when the operational forces Vostok and Zapad were disbanded, he led the 20th combined army in the Moscow military precinct. In summer 2002, S. Makarov was appointed deputy commander of troops of the North Caucasian military precinct. When general V. Moltensky was on vacation, he was acting commander of the joint force on the North Caucasus. After arriving in Grozny on October 22, S. Makarov held a meeting with senior staff of the federal forces. He listened to the reports on the state of troops and specified how the counter-terrorist operation would develop farther down the road.
(more News from Chechnya)

28 October 2002  Masterminds of kidnapping of Kenneth Glak exposed

Law enforcement officers have detained in Grozny rural district of Chechnya a local resident believed to be among those who kidnapped Kenneth Glak, head of the Doctors without borders mission on North Caucasus, in January 2001 near the village of Starye Atagi. After the abduction, Doctors without borders and several other humanitarian organizations suspended their activity in Chechnya. The republican prosecutors office instigated a criminal case. As a result of the special operation held by federal troops late on February the same year, K. Glak was released and could return to the United States. According to the version of the Federal Security Service made public earlier, K. Glak was kidnapped by the gang of Jacub that used to be part of the group led by brothers Akhmadov. The motive behind the abduction was suspicion that K. Glak was agent of a western special service and was looking for information on Islamic extremists that were fighting on the side of Chechen militants. The name of the detained has been not revealed yet in the interests of investigation. The interrogations brought to light the names of true masterminds of the kidnapping. Prosecutor Nikolai Kostuchenko said the seizure was organized by militants emir Abubakar Jumaev, who was liquidated during a special operation in February 2002. Investigators believe that they will unearth the names and locations of other participants in the abduction in the near future.
(more News from Chechnya...)

27 October 2002  V.Zorin says that hostage taking in Moscow will not cause ethnic tensions in the country

Vladimir Zorin, the Russian federal minister in charge of ethnic affairs, believes that hostage taking in Moscow will not cause ethnic tensions in the country. In a live interview on Ekho Moskwi, popular FM station, Zorin said that Chechen citizens are the citizens of Russia; they acted with dignity, even offered themselves as hostages doing everything possible to set the people free. Zorin also communicates that the headquarters of the federal Interior Ministry launched a hot line to inform people about the cases of violation of the Chechen citizens rights. Alexander Muzikantsky, the Moscow Government minister refuted the possibility of any repressive measures towards the Chechen people in Moscow. He emphasized that one of the main objectives of the terrorists was to provoke riots in Moscow.
(more News from Chechnya...)

27 October 2002  The situation in the capital returns to normal

After 57 hours of tense expectations during which fate of over 800 hostages was being decided, Moscow is gradually returning to normal life. However, police cordons continue to seal off the theatre complex on Melnikov Street with investigators working inside. The Muscovites are heading with flowers and funeral candles for the tragedy site where about 90 hostages died. Traffic has been resumed along Melnikov and 1st Dubrovskaya Streets. Residents of neighboring areas have returned to their homes. Reinforced police patrols and checkpoints remain about the recent drama. Policemen are checking transport vehicles, luggage and documents. According to the latest information from the law enforcement bodies, Sunday night four men were detained with weapons and explosives, including two Chechens, one Ingoosh and Georgian nationals. They are being interrogated on suspicion of involvement in the hostage taking in Moscow.
(more News from Chechnya)

27 October 2002  Economic aspects of the war against terrorism are central on the agenda of a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum

Economic aspects of the war against terrorism are central at a meeting of leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, underway in the Mexican city of Los Cabos. According to the Russian Prime-Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, on Saturday the participants in the meeting were discussing the economic consequences of terrorism and how to prevent them. The Sunday agenda will concentrate on liberalization of trade and protection of investment, higher efficiency of transportation systems and energy matters. Mr.Kasyanov said the economies of countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum had been stalled in the past year by terrorist acts. This is a problem that touches on the entire world economy, - the Russian prime-minister said. (more News from Chechnya)

Modern customs and traditions

The right way to treat women

Chechen mothers enjoy a special social status. The husband is no more than the head of a family but the woman has, from times immemorial, kept the fire, and the worst thing one Chechen can say to another is "I wish the fire went dead in your fireplace." The Chechens have always held in the highest esteem those who keep the fire. The fire-keepers enjoy a very privileged position. No one but a woman can break off a blood feud fight. A combat engagement may come to an end if a woman has showed up at the battlefield. A woman can stop bloodshed by baring her head and letting her headkerchief fall between the fighters. If your worst enemy touches with his hand the hem of a woman's dress, you have to lay down weapons: he is now protected by that woman. A man who was allowed to touch with his lips the breast of a woman, becomes the woman's adopted son. A woman who was determined to put an end to hostilities, sent out her children, with a mirror or a looking glass in their hands, to face the fighters. That put an end to the fighting. A man should, in keeping with a western tradition, let a woman go first. In Chechnya, a man goes ahead of a woman. This tradition is rooted in the past. Very dangerous encounters - with a wild beast, a highway robber, a deadly enemy - might happen on the narrow mountain paths...It was only natural for a man to walk ahead of his female companion and be prepared to defend his wife and the mother of his children from any kind of peril. It is customary to greet a woman standing. If an elderly woman passes by, a man, whatever his age, is to get up to his feet. He should be the first to utter words of greeting. Lack of respect for one's mother and her relatives disgraces a man. Respect of your wife's relatives is a merit that may earn you a place in paradise.
(in detail...) 

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