Actual News from Chechnya

News update

A criminal case was launched on the fact of the crash of a Mi-8 helicopter in Chechnya under Article 351 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "violation of the rules of flights and preparation for them," RIA Novosti was told in the military Prosecutor's Office of the Joint Group of Forces. "After the advent of the light time of the day the investigators resumed inspecting the scene of the incident. The witnesses of the crash are being questioned, and criminalistic and technical expert examinations have been fixed," the agency's interlocutor said. As the representative of the military Prosecutor's Office specified, according to the latest data, 15 people perished and one person was wounded as a result of the air crash. The agency's interlocutor went on to say that the helicopter had been carrying 16 people, among them three crewmen. According to him, already the first results of the inspection attained testify to the fact that the helicopter had caught on a high-voltage line and had fallen. The fact that electricity supply discontinued in the Urus-Martan district where the helicopter fell speaks in favor of the above-said version. "Despite this, the investigation will work on all the possible versions of the incident," the military Prosecutor's Office officials noted. The Mi-8 military helicopter crashed on Thursday night.
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Chechnya's mufti Akhmad-khadzhi Shamayev said Shamil Basayev has been and remains the real leader of the extremists in the republic. "He and Doku Umarov command all armed groups and issue orders to carry out sabotage and terrorist attacks," Shamayev emphasized, "their new leader - Abdul-khalim Saidullayev - is a puppet in the hands of Basayev and the militant young generation of extremists." "Saidullayev is Maskhadov's protege. After Akhmat Kadyrov denounced Wahhabis, Maskhadov nominated Saidullayev to the post of mufti of "Ichkeria." At that time, he was professing Wahhabism in Argun. However, Saidullayev declined the offer. In Shamayev's view, with the transfer of Maskhadov's powers to Saidullayev, Basayev and Umarov will now have a free hand without any restrictions. "This 'sheikh' is absolutely unknown either in the Islamic world, or in the West. Moreover, he does not enjoy great prestige among Chechnya's religious leaders, because he's known as an advocate of the Wahhabi idea," the mufti said. Saidullayev, however, may have some authority with Maskhadov's associates, he acknowledged. Sheikh Abdul-khalim has never received any special religious education; he is young, about 30 or 40 years of age. He is an active promoter of the idea to set up in Chechnya and the North Caucasus an Islamic caliphate, Shamayev said. "To carry out terrorist attacks and commit murders of both officials and civilians, the militants need the so-called fetwas - permission by their Shariah court, and no murder could happen without Abdul-khalim's approval," he said. Over the past few years, Wahhabis have killed more than 15 clerics in Chechnya. (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 first complex of the Argun thermal power station commissioned

It took several years to complete this long-awaited in Chechnya effort. On December 25th last year construction workers tested the first startup complex TEZ 4 (heat producing facility) It comprises 15 sites linked into a single technological complex. It includes a boiler (#4) and a turbine (#3), storage facilities for chemical agents, a chemical shop, a technological stockade for cables and tubings, a heating equipment for residential areas and the industrial zone, water-cooling equipment, needed to cool down the turbine, and gas-distribution point. The first complex includes a transformer, linked to a high-voltage line in Dagestan and chief control room to manage the quality of steam and hot water, as well as the frequency of the current produced by the power plant and synchronization of the frequency with that used in the rest of the Northern Caucasus. According to Petr Mikhailov who represents Mosenergomontazh general contractor, which does most of the work there, while testing the complex, the turbine ran non-stop for 72 hours at full load of 6.1 megawatts. After completing the test run a few ideas on its improvements were expressed , which took the whole of January. As a result, the builders and assemblers completed the first complex and officially commissioned the site. The ceremony was attended by Chechen officials and those of Russias United Energy Systems. They set the generator running at full capacity of 6 megawatts. At the present time the complex is undergoing a mode setting-up, which will take several weeks. The complex periodically is set into operation, since a careful check of all its systems is required. Petr Mikhailov said the full-scale operation of the first complex of the Argun power station would allow to heat all living areas of the city and would permit to commission a number of local industrial enterprises, and first of all, the sugar refinery , a housing construction combine and Pischemash factory. By the end of February, the power plant is planning a test run for steaming capacity of another boiler (#3). God alone and perhaps the RUE leadership too know when the plant will be fully commissioned, Petr Mikhailov joked. But it is unquestionable that this day will be an event to celebrate not only for Argun, but for the whole of Chechnya too. And this is serious stuff.
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Issue 270
11.03.05

Chechnya: news | arguments | facts

11 Mart 2005  Defense ministry experts identifying Maskhadov's body
Experts from the Defense Ministry's 124th laboratory in Rostov-on-Don are carrying out tests intended to confirm that the body of a militant eliminated on March 8 was Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, Lieut. Gen. Igor Bykov, the Defense Ministry's chief medical official, told a news conference in Moscow on Friday. "The armed forces' senior forensic expert performed an autopsy on the Chechen separatist leader's body on Thursday, and a molecular analysis has given a 97%-confirmation that the body is that of Aslan Maskhadov," Bykov said. "In addition, a wide range of genetic tests will take place to fully confirm that it was Maskhadov's body," he said. As a rule, genetic analyses take up to 14 days, Bykov said.
(more News from Chechnya...)

11 Mart 2005  Gang leader eliminated in Khasavyurt district, Dagestan
Artur Saritov, a notorious militant responsible for scores of terrorist attacks against federal forces and civilians that reside in Chechnya and Dagestan, has been eliminated in the Khasavyurt district by the local militia, advised the North Caucasus Counter-Terrorist Regional Operations HQ. Earlier, the republics law enforcement agencies had been tipped off about possible whereabouts of Artur Saripov, who had been federally wanted for terrorist involvement that fell under four article of the Criminal Code. He was one of the masterminds behind acts of terrorism targeted at Dagestanian and Chechen residents and federal forces assigned to the regions. He also led a gang operating in the Khasavyurt district of Dagestan and before that was a member of Imurzaevs gang, which victimized the Vedeno district of the Chechen Republic. Following up on the information, the militia located Saritov and one of his subordinates in the settlement of Kadyr-Otar. The bandits were encouraged to surrender but chose to put up armed resistance trying to flee. Both were killed in the shootout. The militia retrieved two pistols and three grenades from the scene. Saritovs associate was identified. He appeared to be a twenty seven year old from Khasavyurt implicated in several robberies, victims of which were local civilians.
(more News from Chechnya...)

11 Mart 2004  Margelov surprised at western reaction to Maskhadov's elimination
Chairman of the Russian Federation Council's international committee Mikhail Margelov says western reaction to the elimination of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov is "strange." "However, we should not expect different reaction from those who sympathized with filicides in Beslan," Mr. Margelov told journalists. "I do not speak about third European countries such as Poland. But would the European Union dare to reproach Americans if they had killed Ben Laden?" the senator said. According to Mr. Margelov, Aslan Maskhadov was considered a peacekeeper in the west. "He spoke about negotiations preparing terrorists acts. However, nobody negotiates with terrorists," the senator noted. In his words, the consequences of Maskhadov's death are ambiguous but political settlement in Chechnya is inevitable. "Those who say that the elimination of the separatist leader planning new terrorist acts was a political mistake either pursue anti-Russian interests or have no idea of the developments in the republic," Mikhail Margelov stressed.
(more News from Chechnya...)

Russia - Chechnya

Chechen culture

The fifth filial of Mikhail Y. Lermontov - the great Russian poets museum opened in an ancient house in the village of Paraboch of the Shelkovki Region in Chechnya . The house is nearly 250 years old and it belonged to a local landlord, retired general Akim Khastatov whose wife Yekaterina Stolypina was a distant relative to Lermontovs grandmother Yelizaveta Arsenyevna. The latter visited Khastatovs estate several times. And she took along young Mikhail, whom she raised after his mothers death. In 1837 during his exile to the Caucasus, Lermontov revisited the home of his relatives. In 1841, he went there for the last time shortly before his death. The building has been well preserved. In 1990 restoration work was begun to make a museum of the great poet. But the events of the past decade postponed all restoration work. Fortunately the building wasnt damaged in the course of hostilities. But it is in need of maintenance. The most important thing that its internal architecture, the living room, window shutters and certain items that the poet may have touched, have all been preserved. In 2004 museum personnel was formed. Svetlana Temirbulatova a learned person and a known philologist in Chechnya was appointed the museums director. The employees will be allocated part of the museum as a working area. The employees will engage in search of items and materials of Lermontovs time and complete the museums exposition. As soon as the building is passed over into the Chechen Culture Ministry care, restoration and maintenance work will get underway. Later on it will receive its first visitors.
(chechen culture ...)

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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