Actual News from Chechnya

News update

Chechnyafree.ru Internet-portal took part in the second International festival of non-commercial internet projects, which was held from 2003 by the Web-masters Union of Russia and sponsored by the Federation Union, the State Duma, the Moscow City Government. Taking part in it were state, commercial and public organizations. The festival is aimed at spreading Russias non-commercial internet space and supporting youth initiatives dealing with social problems, reducing extremist tendencies in our society and strengthening international ties. More than 3,000 people representing 468 data resource managers from Russia, the Commonwealth countries, the Baltic states and other foreign countries participated in the festival in 2004. The final program of the festival took place in Moscow from January 18 through January 23, 2005 and it featured seminars, instruction and master-classes with leading IT experts. The festival declared Chechnyafree.ru the winner in the Best Information Regional Project nomination. On January 20 at a ceremony in the Smaller Hall of Russias Federation Union, an official of the information policy committee of the Federation Union presented it with an honorary diploma. Video ...
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A suspected militant has been detained in Chechnya, a law enforcement source told Interfax on Monday. The detainee is suspected of involvement in the murder of Khasmagomed Umalatov, the mufti of Urus-Martan, acts of terrorism against federal troops and armed assaults on local residents of the Urus-Martan district. (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

The Construction Directorate maintains its active effort in Chechnya

The Federal Construction agency singed an agreement with the Chechen government to transfer the function of state contracts to the Republic. In fact, this process began last year. The Chechen government thus assumes overall control over the construction of sites in Minutka Square, Zhukov and Dudayev avenues, as well as two schools, nursery. All the rest sites begun in 2001, still unfinished due to lack of financing, will be left to the Federal State enterprise the Chechen Construction and Restoration Directorate. They will carry on with construction and assembly work. The state contractors, including Gosstroy, Rosobrazovaniye, Rossport, Roszdrav, Minselkhoz, Industry Ministry and many others, have commissioned more than 200 infrastructure objects. These sites have been certified by state commissions and have been commissioned to local authorities.
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Issue 263
16.02.05

Chechnya: news | arguments | facts

16 February 2005  Mobile phones help Chechens spread the word
In the half-ruined Chechen capital, a vast majority of inhabitants still consider running water and standard telephone lines a luxury, and few can afford a mobile phone. However, mobile phone sales are on a steady rise. Grozny's street vendors and kiosks had been sporting the logo of Russia's Megafon, Chechnya's sole mobile operator, since the republic's mobile network was launched last summer in a bid to prove the war-torn region was on its way to "normalisation." "This is the latest fashion. But it is still too early to say if one could really freely use them," said Ruslan, a biology professor who joined Chechnya's 62,000 mobile users six months ago. "We have been an off-limits zone for a long time, and that left its traces," he said, in a reference to habitual insecurity of this North Caucasus republic that had, since 1999, been subject to an "anti-terrorist campaign." It was at the beginning of that second war that Grozny was bombed down to ruins, and the majority of telephone relays had been destroyed. That signaled years of isolation for the civilian population, while authorities feared that the network, which then passed into military hands, could be used by rebel groups. Today mobile phones are accessible to all, without a prior registration with the FSB security service - unlike in 2003, when the first civilian users, primarily members of the pro-Russian administration, had to apply for authorisation. As for whether the network is tapped, the spokesman for Mobikom-Kavkaz -- Megafon's operator in the region -- would not comment. "This is secret information," Yury Grechko said. Locals in their turn avoid mentioning names or the rendezvous locations in their mobile conversations -- just in case. Ruslan too confessed he did not feel himself completely free of the shadow -- his SIM card does not work anywhere but Chechnya. That is because allowing Chechen telephones to operate in the whole of Russia is subject to "authorisation by the secret services," said Grechko of Mobikom-Kavkaz, whose office is lodged in Russia's southern city of Krasnodar. Chechen mobile phones would not work even in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia, while those bought in other regions do not function in Chechnya. "They pretend we are like the other Russian regions, but we cannot use our phones anywhere but here! We are still the exception," said Fatima, who frequently travels between Chechnya and Ingushetia, where she lives.
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16 February 2005  S.Ivanov: OSCE mission in the North Caucasus was not effective
"We believe that the OSCE mission was not effective. We have evidence that terrorists crossed Russian borders while the mission was under way," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov stated during the Conference on security policy in Munich. At the same time, he underlined that Russia was not against joint efforts in the Caucasus and joint monitoring of the borders. The Russian defense minister also attracted attention of the participants of the conference in Munich to the fact that some European countries issued visas to terrorists. "We are advised to disregard the fact that some European countries accept and hide international terrorists and issue visas to them without any complications," the minister stated. "We consider such development to be rather strange and unacceptable," Mr. Ivanov stressed. The minister also told the participants of the conference that often the global community unreasonably "calls Chechen terrorists 'rebels'." Mr. Ivanov presented data gathered by Russian security-related services indicating that currently about 150-200 foreign mercenaries operate on the territory of the North Caucasus.
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16 February 2004  Several terrorist attacks prevented in Chechnya
Sappers have prevented several terrorist attacks in the Itum-Kale district of Chechnya. Sappers neutralized three improvised explosive devices planted on the road leading from Itum-Kale to Bugaroi, Chechen Interior Ministry spokesman Ruslan Atsayev told Interfax on Tuesday. In addition, several cashes of arms and ammunition were seized in Vedeno, Urus-Martan and other districts of Chechnya, as well as in the capital of Grozny.
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Russia - Chechnya

Chechen culture

The modern-age Chechen literature started in the 1920s when writers and poets in Chechnya established contacts with colleagues in other parts of the Soviet Union. It was a close concern of such great founding fathers of the Soviet literature as A.Serafimovich, M.Gorky and M.Golodny. A.Serafimovich was a frequent visitor to Chechnya at the time. In 1929, he attended an executive meeting of the Grozny Association of Proletarian Writers. In an address to the gathering, he called on the Chechen writers 'to move as one into real life'. In 1930, he sponsored the publication of a Russian version of the poem 'To the Time of the Tsars' by the Chechen poet Said Baduyev. The poem was published in the opening issue of the NA PODYEME ('On the Rise') literary journal. In the late 1920s and in the opening half of the 1930s, M.Gorky was in overall charge of inter-ethnic literary exchanges within the Soviet Union. His favourite method was dispatching writer support brigades to outlying Soviet republics and regions. Said Baduyev in 1932 responded to this by publishing an essay entitled 'Maxim Gorky is Our Teacher'.
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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.
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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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