Actual News from Chechnya

News update

The first major candidate stepped up on Thursday to compete in presidential elections in Russia's Chechnya to replace President Akhmad Kadyrov, blown up in a rebel bomb blast in May. Malik Saidullayev, a wealthy Moscow-based lotteries tycoon flew to Chechnya to submit documents required to register for the August 29 poll, a source close to him told Reuters. Saidullayev tried to stand in the poll which elected Kadyrov last year, but despite his popularity in the region he was thrown out of the race on a technicality. Analysts say no candidate has a chance of victory without Kremlin backing. Kadyrov, killed on May 9 in a bomb attack in a stadium in the regional capital Grozny, was central to Russian President Vladimir Putin's bid to tame rebellion in mainly Muslim Chechnya, but he was viewed by rebels as a traitor. Separatist guerrillas have pursued daily attacks on Russian troops in a decade-old war that has cost tens of thousands of lives in the mountainous region. Putin's government ran a referendum and elections in Chechnya last year as part of a plan to normalise the region, reoccupied by Russian troops in 1999, but the plan was smashed by Kadyrov's assassination. Saidullayev joins at least two other Chechens who have registered to take part, but he is the first who has a high profile in Chechnya. "Malik is already in Chechnya and will hand over his documents today. Of course, his candidature still needs to be registered, so it is possible he will not be allowed to stand," the source said. As well as Kremlin backing, agreement from Kadyrov's son Ramzan, who controls a thousands-strong irregular militia, could be key to victory. Ramzan, 27, is too young to stand. But a top Kremlin official said earlier this week the militia could be neutralised by transferring it to police control, which would bolster the bid of local Interior Minister Alu Alkhanov - considered a likely candidate. "As for Kadyrov's troops, we are taking steps to move them to the Chechen Interior Ministry," Vladimir Yakovlev, the president's envoy to southern Russia, told Reuters. But he also held out hope for Ruslan Yamadayev, a member of the Russian parliament floated as a likely rival to Alkhanov for Kremlin support. Yamadayev is one of the leaders of the Kremlin-backed United Russia party in Chechnya. "It is important that the candidate is backed by one of the main social organisations, the most probable is United Russia," Yakovlev said. Neither Yamadayev or Alkhanov have said whether they will stand.
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Three Chechens were sentenced to life imprisonment after a court found them guilty of organizing a suicide bomb attack on a Grozny government building in December 2002, which killed 83 people and wounded dozens of others. On December 27, 2002 three suicide bombers rammed a military truck and jeep into the headquarters of the pro-Moscow administration in Chechnya's capital Grozny. The vehicles were loaded with bombs equivalent to around one tonne of TNT and the explosion killed 83 and injured 71 people. Yusup Yunusov, Valid Suleimanov and Akhmed Ismailov were accused of equipping the vehicles with explosives and accompanying the suicide bombers to the site of the blast. The investigation found that Chechen hardline warlord Shamil Bassayev had ordered the attack, a charge that the rebel has denied. (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
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Chechen economics

More tax collection signifies positive changes in the Chechen economy

April 30 was the last day for the submission of tax declaration by Chechens on their income last year. By May 1, 14,696 people had submitted declarations to the Chechen tax office, including 13,422 from state employees , 1,064 from businessmen and 210 from various other individuals. Overall, the tax declaration campaign results evidence a significant increase in the income of Chechens, which in turn reflects a positive tendency in the republics economy and social sector. A total of 619,395 rubles, a 1,5 fold increase over last years figure were received from individuals and whats more, the increased collection covered all sources of income without an exception. A 1,6 fold increase on last years figures were received from individual businessmen, 5,3 fold increase came from tax on individual land ownership,2,3 times more tax was collected from transport operators while 3,7 more tax was collected from private property owners. Judging by the results of the first quarter of this year, there is visible a tendency toward a stable increase in the income of Chechen citizens. If in January to March 2003, 117,867rubles were collected as tax from individual citizens, in the first three months of this year 168,933 rubles, an increase of 40 per cent were received from the same number of individuals. The positive dynamics in tax collection must be credited to the professionalism of employees of the Chechen tax office, who on January 25 marked their 4th anniversary. Ten employees of the territorial department have been decorated with the honorary medal of excellence by the Russian tax ministry while several others were given honorary testimonials and valuable gifts.
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Issue 195
03.06.04

Chechnya: news | arguments | facts

03 June 2004  Council of Europe delegation visits Chechnya
The situation in the Russian republic of Chechnya remains unstable despite Moscow's efforts to restore peace, members of the Council of Europe said Thursday during a tour of the regional capital Grozny. "There are still considerable problems in the political sphere," German parliamentarian Rudolf Bindig told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Bindig and Swiss M.P. Andreas Gross were visiting the tightly cordoned off republic for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), an organization comprised of 44 countries and dedicated to promoting rule of law and human rights. The delegation said the first signs of genuine reconstruction were evident in Grozny, which was devastated over the past decade during fighting between federal Russian forces and Islamic separatists. PACE has been an outspoken critic of Moscow's conduct in Chechnya, including widespread abuses against the civilian population.
(more News from Chechnya...)

03 June 2004  Chechnyas main soccer team Terek to have own stadium 2005
The stadium of Chechnyas main soccer team, Terek, which won Russias cup final last weekend, will open next year. The sports facility will be able to accommodate 25,000 spectators, Chechnyas Ministry of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism told Tass. The public at large is unanimous the stadium should be named after Chechnyas first president, Akhmat Kadyrov, assassinated in a terrorist attack in Grozny on May 9. The deputy chief of the federal agency for construction and the housing and utilities sector told a news conference at the Itar-Tass head office builders will get down to work soon to restore the stadium for the Terek soccer club. This year 1.8 billion rubles has been allocated for the restoration of Chechnyas social infrastructures, and another 3.5 billion rubles for the federal program for Chechnyas reconstruction.

03 June 2004  Photographic exhibition Children and War under way in Grozny
A photographic exhibition timed for World Childrens Day, celebrated on June 1st, is under way from May 31st to June 10th at the Grozny-based Stelaad, or Rainbow, childrens magazine. The exhibition features 154 photos by the photographer of the Chechen news agency Grozny-Inform Musa Sadulayev that are all about children and war. The photos are professionally made and strikingly real, they make one sympathize with and admire young Chechens. The photographer has never left the republic, not even when fighting was bitterest. He used his camera to shoot in Grozny streets, in the mountain country and at refugee camps. This is his first personal exhibition in the Chechen Republic. But hes already exhibited in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels. The Chechen Ministry for Nationalities, Information and Foreign Relations has helped organize the current exhibition in Grozny. Also helpful proved editors-in-chief of the local childrens newspapers and magazines.
(more News from Chechnya...)

Russia - Chechnya

Chechen culture

The natural surroundings determined what kind of villages and housing units were to be built in the mountainous and flatland parts of Chechnya. Mountain rock was the main. and wood, clay and straw, the auxiliary building materials. Security was the chief concern of those who settled to live in mountain canyons: their villages were to be well protected. Besides, the highlanders were concerned about the availability of grass and grazing pastures, water, and, last but not least, arable land. Land ought not to be wasted, so houses were built even on top of mountain cliffs. One-storey houses with a flat roof constituted the widest-spread type of buildings in mountainous Chechnya. Two-storeyed houses and three-to-five-storeyed towers were occasionally built, too. Several buildings - the living quarters, a tower and the outhouses - made up what might be called a family holding. Their relative positions depended on the terrain. A mountain village looked a helter-skelter agglomeration of buildings. No straight streets cut through it. Land was scarce. It was divided between kins and no construction blueprints were ever drawn up. The more kinsmen, the bigger chunk of land a kin was entitled to get. As a result, there appeared blocks of family holdings: kinsmen settled to live side by side with one another. Every village had a main square which was dominated by a mosque. The main square was meant for public gatherings. Flatland villages eventually came to imitate the highlanders' planning methods. They stretched on the bank of a river or along a road and were far more populous. A mountain village had 20 to 25 family units whereas a village of flatland Chechnya, over 400. The Chechens usually built their long, flat-roofed, one-storey houses of mountain rock and, less frequently, of straw brick. It took a week to build this unpretentious shelter, and a week was all the time a Chechen could afford to spend on housing construction after his old house was destroyed by an enemy. Other construction materials were used in flatland Chechnya. The walls of the houses were made of a mixture of clay, chaff and fresh manure. The roofs were made of wooden poles covered with tree bark and a layer of clay. The clay was to be tamped with a special rammer, otherwise grass would grow on the roofs.
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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.
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