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 new tuberculosis clinic has opened in the Chechen town of Shali. This is the fourth such clinic in the republic. It was rebuild as part of a federal programme designed to help restore Chechnyas health care system. The clinic will service the Shali and other districts of the republic. The head of the clinic, Aset Israilova, told Itar-Tass on Friday, Modern equipment that can detect the disease at early stages was provided by the international humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres. The clinic can accommodate more than 60 people. According to Israilova, the restoration of the clinic is very important for Chechnya where the number of tuberculosis cases has trebled, including among children, in the last 10 years. (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 265
22.02.05

Chechnya: news | arguments | facts

22 February 2005  A Page of the Chechen Republics web-site 60th Victory Anniversary
The Education Ministry of the Chechen Republic took part in an all-Russia contest designated Alignment on the Victory and dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic war. It was held on the initative of several federal ministries, including Russias Ministry of Education and Sciences. In keeping with the terms of action, each of Russias regions posted its own web-page on the common Internet-site The 60th Victory Anniversary which provide reading and visual material on the role of each region in World War Two. Ganga Elmurzayeva, Chechen deputy minister of education led the effort in the Chechen Republic to prepare this site. In her words, such work was undertaken by the ministry for the first time. Therefore, the web-site creators therefore came up against certain problems. But employees of Groznys Central Library, the Veterans Council and the United Museum Directorate came to their rescue. A great input in this effort also came from the Chechen Committee on Youth Issues, as well as from departments of district education and schools. A great wealth of material was obtained and processed. As a result on February 15, 2005 the Chechen Republics web-page was posted on the site www.ravnenie-na-pobedu.ru This is an Encyclopedia for Schoolchildren of sorts, dedicated to the role of various Russian regions in World War Two. The page dedicated to the Chechen Republic, contains several sections, including an address by the Chechen President, Alu Alkhanov to veterans and the youth furthermore reference material on Chechnya as a member of the Russian Federation, a story of the Chechen Republics role in the Great Patriotic War and its war veterans, primarily Heroes of the Soviet Union. The conclusive section is taken up by reminiscences of the former combatants themselves. Russias Ministry of education and sciences has highly appraised the efforts of those who created the Chechen Republics web-page.
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21 February 2005  Major terror attack prevented in Ingushetia
A major terror attack was prevented in Ingushetia (a North Caucasus republic neighboring Chechnya) near the Khalima cafe, a spokesman for the Regional Operative Headquarters (ROH) in charge of the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus told RIA Novosti. "Law enforcers spotted an improvised explosive device planted in a drain pipe under the federal road Kavkaz near the Khalima cafe in the outskirts of the village of Barsuki in the Nazran district. The device contained three rounds for the RPG grenade-launcher and an F-1 hand grenade," the spokesman said. According to him, investigators established that the explosive device had been made and planted by members of the bandit group led by Umarov. "They planned to blow it up this weekend when the cafe had the most visitors," he stressed. In addition, law enforcers detected an arms cache hidden in the western outskirts of Nazran. "The militants had set up an arms cache in the woods near the Alkhanchur canal. The cache contained about 2,000 rounds of 5.45 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition, F-1 hand grenades and five 200g TNT blocks," the ROH spokesperson said. Tentatively, investigators assume that the cache had also been set up by the militants from the bandit group led
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21 February 2004  Chechen police increasing security measures
The Chechen police are stepping up security at utilities and government buildings, Chechen Interior Ministry press secretary Ruslan Atsayev told Interfax. "Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov has issued a decree under which all the Interior Ministry personnel will be put on alert from February 18-25. These measures have been taken in the run-up to the celebration of Homeland Defender Day and the anniversary of the deportation of the Chechen people to Siberia and Central Asia on February 23," Atsayev said.
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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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