Actual News from Chechnya

News update

The court hearings of the Russians' case in Qatar has broken for an interval till May 2, said Ilya Levitov, spokesman for the lawyers' bureau Yegorov, Puginsky, Afanasyev and Partners. Lawyers of this bureau represent the interests of the Russians at the hearings in Qatar. The court sessions, which lasted from Monday to Wednesday, heard the 13 witnesses for the prosecution. They were interrogated by both the Russians' lawyers headed by a Qatar lawyer and prosecutors. Three Russian citizens who were on a business trip in Qatar were arrested early on February 19 by Qatari special services. They are accused of involvement in the murder of a Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbieyv, whose car was blown up in Doha on February 13. One of the detainees, first secretary of the Russian embassy in Qatar Alexander Fetisov was later released and returned home on March 24. The Russian foreign ministry has repeatedly denied the charges, and insisted that they be released. On February 26, the two Russians were officially accused of premeditated murder. At the preliminary court session on April 11, the Russians pleaded not guilty.
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No big-time Chechen criminals are in Georgia now, and the country is determined to oust paramilitaries down to the last man, President Mikhail Saakashvili said in a Novosti interview. A Georgian-Russian agreement signed last week envisages the Chechen frontier stretch jointly patrolled. The arrangement is to start urgently, with spring thaw on in the Caucasian highlands to open easy crossing. It is essential for Georgia to prevent Chechen rebels penetrating it, and block their way back to Russia, if any remain in Georgia to this day. Georgia is anxious to rid of Chechen paramilitaries, and willing to cooperate with Russia. Meanwhile, this alliance with Russian law-enforcement agencies is fairly smooth in tracking rebels down and extraditing them to Russia. The President had called Moscow on repeated occasions to specify paramilitaries' names and supposed whereabouts in Georgia. Russia is free to send secret service officers to Georgia for detection-a proposal it has been ignoring to this day. President Saakashvili rules out use of force in Adzharia, recalcitrant autonomy within Georgia. Tbilisi's policies are finding every support with the Adzhar public. "The local leader [republican President Aslan Abashidze] has no backing from the population. He does not like the situation. Why, that's his own problem." The Adzhar issue will be settled promptly and peacefully, reassured President Saakashvili. He is in Warsaw for European economic summitry of April 28-30. (more...)

Chechen history

Chechnya | Questions and answers

This pamphlet is about Chechnya , a Russian territory which has witnessed the most tragic events over the past decade. The book is the latest update on the Chechen Republic . And this is very important, since a lack of fresh and accurate information about events in Chechnya generates many distorted conceptions and rumours - both within and outside Russia . For example, that Chechen society is allegedly inherently alien to Russia , that pro-Russian elements in the republic are marginalised; and lastly, that Russian power structures are fighting the Chechen people, rather than armed bandit groups. The reality, however, is that only with the return of the legitimate authorities are villages and towns being restored, children going to school for the first time in many years, and pensioners receiving long-forgotten pensions, i.e. a social rebirth is underway. Lying ahead are a referendum on a new Chechen constitution, and parliamentary and presidential elections. These votes will be held, despite continued attempts by bandit groups and their leaders to scupper the process of normalisation in the republic, the latest terrorist act being the bombing of the republican government building. The war being waged by Chechen separatists against federal forces and more often than not against their own co-citizens is by no means a "national liberation struggle of the Chechen people", but an episode in the overall offensive by international terrorism on the fundamental principles of modern civilisation. The facts show that being a part of the Russian Federation in no way threatens the Chechen Republic 's cultural identity, the free use of its own language, and preaching Islam. On the contrary, it was during de facto "independence" from Russia that the Chechen people suffered a humanitarian tragedy on an unprecedented scale. Hostage-taking, the slave trade and plundering came to form the economic basis of the new regime, while chaos and war became the form of its political existence. We want to emphasise once more: Chechnya is part of Russia , geographically, politically and civilisation-wise. So a hypothetical triumph of radical Islamism on its territory would be anti-historical. Such a development would signify the establishment in the midst of Europe of a Taliban-like regime, with all ensuing consequences for the international community. The corporate author - journalists of the Russian Information Agency Novosti - have attempted to be as brief as possible on providing answers to the most-often aked questions (above all posed by a foreign audience) about the Chechen issue. Hence the book's title: " Chechnya : Questions and Answers". It draws heavily on information provided by various Russian ministries and departments that in one or another way are involved in normalising life in the republic.
Russian Information Agency Novosti
(in detail ...)

Chechen economics

Grozny's waterworks are rebuit

Quality potable water is what life depends on. The World Health Organization says, however, that about 2 billion people experience shortages of potable water. The Chechens, of all people, do not go thirsty. And, what sounds even better, they draw clear and sweet water from their mountainous brooks. And yet, some Chechens have a reason to be displeased. People get next to no water from their hissing kitchen faucets in some neighborhoods of Grozny. Frequent repairs are to blame for the absence of water, and it is technically unfeasible to pump water to the upper stories of high-rise projects. Although they are in the habit of lodging complaints against the metropolitan waterworks, people admit that the delivery of potable water has improved. As many as 85 percent of the residents of Grozny, which used to bring all its water from far away, are provided with tap water whose quality is monitored by the Chechen center of the Federal Epidemiological Service. Water is tested twice a week, and the medical workers have lodged no major complaints against the water authority of Grozny. Three water supply stations - Starosunzhensky, Gitinsky, and Checrnorechensky - have, over the past three years, been put in operation in Grozny. The distribution system is being rebuilt (don't forget that the waterworks run for 2,023 kilometers, and the sewage system has 510 kilometers of fifty-year-old and, naturally, worn-out piping!) The mid-90's brought more trouble: as their seams were strained by the bomb blasts, the pipes started leaking. The sewage system presents fewer problems. Occasional obstructions are written off as easy-to-be-eliminated. There are 471 people on the staff of the metropolitan waterworks; there must be three times as many. Over the past few years, the water authority had barely enough money for run-of-the-mill repairs. But major repairs have been scheduled for this and next year. The allocations will come from the federal government. And, more good news for Grozny: all neighborhoods of the Chechen capital will be provided with tap water as soon as the Samashkinsky water supply station is put in operation, sometime this fall.
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Issue 186
29.04.04

Chechnya: news | arguments | facts

29 April 2004  Gas will be supplied to foothills and mountain villages in Chechnya
Rostov region court sentenced Doku Dzhantemirov, 27, to life imprisonment for his involvement in the attack on a helicopter in Chechnya, in which 127 servicemen died. The court found Dzhantemirov guilty of planning and carrying out an act of terror. He was among the group of militants who used a shoulder-fired anti-aircraft system near Khankala in August, 2002. It was the worst tragedy in the history of Russian transport aviation. The court recognized the investigators' version that Dzhantemirov brought the Igla portable anti-aircraft system in a car to the building from which it was fired. He also took footage of the helicopter crash. Dzhantemirov gave confessional evidence in the course of preliminary investigation, but began to deny his guilt at the trial.
(more News from Chechnya...)

29 Mart 2004  CE to continue cooperation with Russia over Chechnya
The Council of Europe will continue cooperation with Russia over Chechnya, Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer said. Schwimmer told journalists as part of the PACE spring session that both sides will cooperate in such areas as human rights and strengthening the rule-of-law state in Chechnya. The Council of Europe maintains close contacts with Russian authorities over Chechnya, Schwimmer said, adding that CE human rights experts are working in Chechnya on a permanent basis. State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev told Itar-Tass that Russia is ready to discuss the Chechen problem with the PACE. We are ready to contribute to a PACE delegations trip to Chechnya to study the situation on the spot. CE experts could make sure that the situation in Chechnya where the referendum on the constitution and presidential elections were held is changing to its best. If the PACE Bureau decides to include the situation in Chechnya in the agenda of summer session stated for June, the Russian delegation is prepared to discuss it, Kosachev said.
(more News from Chechnya...)

29 April 2004  Trade unions expect over a million people to march on May Day
More than one million Russians will turn out on May Day to take part in marches and rallies across the country to demand decent pay as a sure way to eradicate poverty. Chairman of the Federation of independent trade unions of Russia Mikhail Shmakov told a press conference that between five thousand and 10 thousand people would respond to the call of the trade unions to turn out in each regional center. More people - up to 23 thousand - are expected to take part in May Day marches in Moscow, said he. Ingushetia and Chechnya will only hold meetings of trade union activists because of instability in those regions. The marchers and participants in the rallies will demand higher pay for their work. Other demands will be for a rise in the minimum wage to the subsistence level and the payment of the wage arrears, Shmakov said. According to him, The wage paid in all sectors of the economy is not in line with the work done. And although the minimal wage increased from 83 roubles to 600 roubles a month, it still amounts to no more than 25 percent of the consumer baskets worth, Shmakov noted. The money income of one in every five Russian workers, or 31.2 million people, is below the subsistence level of 2,143 roubles a month, the trade union leader said. Since the beginning of this year, the wage arrearage has increased by four billion roubles to 28 billion. More than five million workers do not get their pay on time, said Shmakov. The trade unions are extremely wary of the government initiative to switch to cash in the payment of all kinds of social benefits. There is no confidence that the compensation in cash will be adequate, Shmakov said.

Russia - Chechnya

Chechen culture

It was not until the late 19th century that the Chechens started using other than wooden, brass and earthen tableware. Village artisans had polished their skills to perfection in making household utensils. Glazed crockery featured geometric or floral designs. Bowls were usually big. And the shape of a bowl depended on what they would put into it. A pitcher with a narrow neck contained melted butter. A pitcher with a wide neck was meant for milk and sour milk. The neck of a water pitcher was so narrow that only a child's fist could fit in. Water pitchers had big handles and wide circle-shaped bottoms: they would be carried on the shoulder from the river that could flow far enough from home or in a canyon. A special kind of earthenware held grain. Demand was high for the well-made Chechen pottery.Wooden tableware was made with a lathe. The hardest sorts of timber - oak and maple - went for tableware. Some household utensils were also made of wood: barrels, wheel spikes and other parts of wheelcarts. Cradles were made of wood in such a way as to enable a Chechen mother to strap it to her back and carry it out to the field. Its accommodating design and loyalty to the national tradition explain why some Chechen women still put their babies in such cradles. Other things made of wood: trays, mugs, spoons, churns - have also survived till nowadays. 19th century brass washbowls, mugs, tubs and pots are still used by the Chechens. The Chechen home looks traditionally simple, if not ascetic. There was an absolute minimum of furniture: portable wooden beds and small tables. But household utensils that do credit to the village artisans adorned the rooms. There were things made of wood and brass, crockery and, in addition to all that, things made of wool and felt. Felt was indispensable. Chechens used it for mattresses, blankets and wall rugs and as insulation lining. Multicolor Chechen rugs are usually decorated with red and blue fringework.
(in detail ...)

Chechen tarditions

The book "Vainakh Ethics" by Edi Isaev is an utmost important work at a time when the life in Chechnya is returning to normal. Edi Isaev is a historian, Professor at the Chechen State University, writer and publicist directs his book to youth. In introduction he emphasizes: "The norm of Vainakh ethics is the code of wise truths of people that reflects their ideals." The book is educational. It contains the ideas on ethics by thinkers of various people and various times from Epicurus and Confucius A.S. Makarenko and L.N.Toltoi. The second chapter is devoted to ethic norms of Chechens. The third chapter considers in detail traditional family ethic code. The final chapter is devoted to Islamic ethic norms. Materials from the book Vainakh Ethics by Edi Isaev is devoted to customs and traditions of Chechens.
(more about chechen traditions...)

Chechen cuisine

"The Chechens, like the rest of the highlanders, avoid extremes in their eating and drinking habits. What they usually eat is chureks or corn bread with mutton lard spread on it, and wheat stew with lard in it; water is their basic refreshment." "...Unleavend wheat or barley bread baked on charcoal, milk and cheese constitute their daily menu; meat is eaten, very rarely, by the richest of the Chechens." That was written about the Chechen eating habits in the 19th century. And it was not until the late 19th century that many vegetables grown in Europe - tomatoes, cabbage, radish - had found their way to the kitchen gardens of mountainous Chechnya. Chechen farming units have, since times immemorial, been self-sufficient, with only spices and sweetmeats being bought at the market. And, although they have become familiar with the cuisines of many other ethnic communities, the Chechen women cherish the very special culinary traditions of their own.
(in detail ...)

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