Chechnya

[Baloo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4330039.stm


Chechen leader Maskhadov 'killed'
Maskhadov's body as shown on Russian TV
Russia blamed Maskhadov for a series of attacks
Russian forces say Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed.

Russian television showed pictures of a body resembling that of Mr Maskhadov, 53, in a pool of blood in Chechnya.

But President Vladimir Putin has asked for further identification. Chechens have not confirmed the death, which a spokesman said was likely to be true.

The spokesman said Chechnya's war of independence would not be affected by the death of Mr Maskhadov - the most moderate of Chechen rebel commanders.

QUICK GUIDE

The Chechen conflict

Mr Maskhadov was elected Chechen president in January 1997 but was ousted two years later.

Thousands of people - many of them civilians - have been killed in the 10-year war between Russian forces and Chechen separatists.

Further identification

Few details have been released of the Russian operation at the settlement of Tolstoy-Yurt, near the Chechen capital, Grozny.

Col Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesman for Russian forces in the Caucasus region, earlier told news agencies that Mr Maskhadov's body had been found in a bunker.



What happened in the raid?

But it was not clear whether he had been killed by the Russian forces.

Chechnya's Moscow-appointed Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov told Interfax news agency the intention had been to take Mr Maskhadov alive but that he had been was killed by careless weapons-handling by his bodyguards.

Russia's FSB security chief briefed President Putin on the troops' operation in a Chechen village, but did not say how Mr Maskhadov was killed.

He told the president the FSB security services "today carried out an operation in the settlement of Tolstoy-Yurt, as a result of which "the international terrorist and leader of armed groups Maskhadov was killed, and his closest comrades-in-arms detained".

"Carry out additional identification tests, report back," Mr Putin ordered.

"If this information is confirmed, grant state awards to all those involved in the operation," the Russian leader said.

"We have to gather our forces to protect the people of the republic and citizens of all Russia from the bandits," Mr Putin said.

Russian television showed pictures of a grey-bearded and shirtless corpse in a pool of blood, but a Chechen spokesman said he was not convinced.


The resistance will continue, no doubt about it
Akhmed Zakayev
Chechen spokesman

Obituary: Aslan Maskhadov

However, one of Mr Maskhadov's oldest allies, Akhmed Zakayev, told Ekho Moskvy radio from London that the Russian announcement was likely to be true.

But this would not affect Chechnya's pursuit of independence, he said.

"The resistance will continue, no doubt about it," Mr Zakayev said.

If the death is confirmed, this will be a major coup for Moscow, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow says.

Moscow has blamed Mr Maskhadov for a string of deadly attacks in Russia, including a rebel attack on a school in the south Russian town of Beslan last September in which more than 330 hostages - half of them children - died.

He led the Chechen separatists who defeated Russian forces in a 1994-1996 war.

Mr Putin sent Russian troops back into Chechnya in October 1999.

==========

I, for one, am glad to see this. He was a terrorist, and murderer, and will hopefully enable the Chechens to come to the negotiating table with the Russians.

 

[Marty]

He was all those things and probably more .............but he is more likely going to be made a matyr with someone else stepping  forward to continue the terror. But if thier aim was to take them out one at a time ,I say he was a good place to start!

 

[Quiet Riot]

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/136497/1/.html

MOSCOW : Chechen rebels have vowed to pursue and expand their fight for independence from Russia, calling the killing of their leader Aslan Maskhadov a fleeting coup for the Kremlin that obliterated any hope of a negotiated end to the conflict.

"The occupiers and puppets are celebrating what they regard as a victory," stated a commentary Wednesday on an Internet website regularly used by the rebels.

"Indeed they can claim a victory for temporary propagandistic euphoria."

Speaking to AFP earlier, Akhmed Zakayev, a longtime ally and spokesman of Maskhadov, vowed that the rebels would not give up their resistance to Moscow after the death of their leader.

"The resistance will continue, no doubt about it," he said.

The killing of Maskhadov, the 53-year-old separatist leader who was elected president of Chechnya in 1997 in elections acknowledged by Moscow and who was seen as a relative moderate among rebel leaders, means talks on ending the war are no longer possible, the Internet message stated.

Maskhadov had enjoyed a measure of credibility among some as a potential negotiator with the Kremlin, but "now there is no such person in Chechnya. Those who state that the death of president Maskhadov put an end to the entire period of the Russian-Chechen standoff are absolutely correct.

"In killing Maskhadov, the Kremlin killed off any remaining illusions among Chechens who, for whatever reasons, still believed in so-called 'international law'... Now the war cannot be halted but only finished."

Another commentary posted on the same web site, kavkazcenter.com, used terms frequently employed by Islamist radicals to state that Maskhadov "was not the first Chechen president to be martyred in jihad, God willing, and probably not the last... .

"But Aslan Maskhadov was the first president demonstrably killed in response to holding out a hand for peace and the last who will extend that hand."

It added: "The total impossibility for not just Chechnya but the entire northern Caucasus to remain within Russia is now obvious."

The reaction from the rebels came after the head of the FSB intelligence service, Nikolai Patrushev, was shown on national television on Tuesday informing President Vladimir Putin that Maskhadov had been killed.

A spokesman for Russian forces in the northern Caucasus said Maskhadov was in a bunker under a building in the Chechen village of Tolstoi-Yurt when he was killed during a special operation led by elite FSB troops.

Maskhadov has been blamed by the Russian government for numerous attacks on both military targets and civilians in recent years, including the Beslan school massacre last autumn and an October 2002 mass hostage-taking at the Dubrovka theater in Moscow.

He denied taking part in either attack.

Together with Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev, Maskhadov was one of Russia's two most wanted men and his death was characterized by authorities here as a major success in efforts that have so far lasted for a decade to subdue the armed rebellion in Chechnya.

"The elimination of a terrorist of international standing only means that there will be much less evil now," Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the State Duma, said.

Alexei Mitrofanov, a member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, said Maskhadov's death meant the "military stage of the conflict in Chechnya is coming to an end."

In his initial reaction to the news of Maskhadov's death, President Vladimir Putin however struck a cautious note, saying there was still "much work to be done" in Chechnya and stating it was a moment for heightened vigilance and not celebration.

And Sergei Baburin, a member of the nationalist Rodina party, warned it would be mistaken for Russia to gloat over the killing of the rebel leader because the underlying causes of the conflict had not been addressed.

"Do we really think that Maskhadov's death has solved all the problems in Chechnya?" Baburin said.

- AFP

 

[putz]

Good for the Russians its about time that this happened.  The results should help bolster support from the people in Russia, show the citizens that something good is happening.

I, for one, am glad to see this. He was a terrorist, and murderer, and will hopefully enable the Chechens to come to the negotiating table with the Russians.

I was under the understanding that the Chechens have been trying to negotiate with the Russians and the Russians are turning them away....

 

[dutchie]

I was under the understanding that the Chechens have been trying to negotiate with the Russians and the Russians are turning them away....

I was under the impression he and his ilk are child murderers. Once a group/person uses terrorism (especially against children) to advance their cause, they give up their right to negotiations.

He got what he deserves. Here's hoping the rest of those savages follow the same path.

 

[Edward Campbell]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4330039.stm


Chechen leader Maskhadov 'killed'

...

I, for one, am glad to see this. He was a terrorist, and murderer, and will hopefully enable the Chechens to come to the negotiating table with the Russians.

And Putin is what?   A democrat?   A defender of individual liberty?

 

[putz]

I was under the impression he and his ilk are child murderers. Once a group/person uses terrorism (especially againsty children) to advance their cause, they give up their right to negotiations.

He got what he deserves. Here's hoping the rest of those savages follow the same path.

Can't agree more (I wasn't being sarcastic in my last posts)

And Putin is what?  A democrat?  A defender of individual liberty?

A leader that is trying to keep his country together (albeit some people see this as the wrong way).  Lets remember the Chechen/Russian conflicts have been ongoing for Hundreds of years.  Also, there was a shaky truce in place until 1999 when the Chechen's starting bombing the Russian public.  What were seeing now, in my humble opinion, is the PERFECT example of a country stating " WE DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS"

 

[Infanteer]

" WE DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS"

Although I don't find the Beslan incident at all the sign of a "freedom struggle", I will, as Edward Campbell already suggested, point out the fact that perhaps the Chechens, after the way that the Russians handled Grozney and the Civil War, have also claimed "We do not negotiate with (state) Terrorism."

 

[dutchie]

Chechens, after the way that the Russians handled Grozney and the Civil War, have also claimed "We do not negotiate with (state) Terrorism."

And that, very plainly, is the rub.

 

[putz]

Although I don't find the Beslan incident at all the sign of a "freedom struggle", I will, as Edward Campbell already suggested, point out the fact that perhaps the Chechens, after the way that the Russians handled Grozney and the Civil War, have also claimed "We do not negotiate with (state) Terrorism."

Yes, that is possible but that also goes down the same lines as "One mans Terrorists is another mans Freedomfighter"

 

[Infanteer]

My idea is not to excuse either side.  I'm only trying to point out that this is indeed a civil war and the political rhetoric is bound to be heavy, especially considering its in a state that is run by ex-KGB types, who are famed for being defenders of freedom....

 

[jmackenzie_15]

Good Riddance.

 

[rz350]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060617/ap_on_re_eu/russia_chechnya

GROZNY, Russia - Special operations police killed the top Chechen rebel leader Saturday after receiving a tip about a terror attack in        Chechnya planned to coincide with the upcoming Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg.



Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev was shot in his hometown of Argun, east of the Chechen capital, Grozny, after he resisted arrest, the town police chief said.

The killing of Sadulayev — rebel leader for just over a year — deals a blow to the Islamic-inspired insurgency and its efforts to spread beyond Chechnya's borders to attack Russian forces across the poverty-stricken and corruption-gripped south.

An intelligence agent and a police officer also were killed in the operation, according the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency. NTV television reported that a rebel trying to flee with Sadulayev was killed, and two rebels escaped. Further details on the raid were not immediately available.

Clad in combat fatigues, Moscow-backed Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov and his lieutenants were shown on NTV standing over a bloodied body identified as Sadulayev's.

The prime minister said Sadulayev had been planning a terror attack in Argun during the G8 summit of leading industrialized nations in mid-July. He said a man from the rebel leader's inner circle had informed authorities on his whereabouts for $55.

"He urgently needed to buy a dose of heroin, so he sold his leader for heroin," Kadyrov with a grin. He spoke from his home village, Tsentoroi, in eastern Chechnya, where he had police bring the rebel leader's body. Kadyrov's widely feared paramilitary force is based in the village.

"The terrorists have been virtually beheaded. They have sustained a severe blow, and they are never going to recover from it," Kadyrov said. "We must decisively end international terrorism in the whole of the North Caucasus."

Sadulayev took over after Russian forces killed rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov in March 2005, but he was relatively unknown outside rebel circles.

A field commander, he served as a judge of the Chechen rebels' Shariat committee — an extension of the Islamic court established under Maskhadov when he was Chechnya's elected president in the 1990s.

Chechnya's separatist movement was rooted in nationalist sentiment but in recent years has taken on a growing Islamic cast. Sadulayev, an Islamic fundamentalist, had promoted efforts to spread the rebel movement beyond the Chechen republic.

Russian prosecutors considered him the main organizer of the 2001 kidnapping of Kenneth Gluck, of New York City, who worked for        Doctors Without Borders in southern Russia. Gluck was freed after 25 days, according to a Ekho Moskvy radio report.

The radio station also said Maskhadov had called Sadulayev the co-organizer of a 2004 raid on police and security installations in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, which killed some 90 people.

In announcing the rebel leader's death, the prime minister vowed to quickly track down Shamil Basayev and Doku Umarov, the top warlords in charge of main rebel forces.

Basayev has claimed responsibility for some of Russia's worst terror attacks, including the seizure of some 800 hostages in a Moscow theater in October 2002 and the September 2004 school hostage taking in Beslan that killed 331.

 

[rz350]

I realise I forgot to add my own commentary with the article, so Il tack it on now.

I say good riddance's to that man, one less Islamic extremist terrorist is always a good thing in my book, even if Russian forces acted in a less then upstanding way, I'd that, then have him running around taking kids hostage.

 

[old medic]

Chechnya's leader seeks to impose strict brand of Islam as he tightens his grip on power

By LYNN BERRY
Associated Press Writer
February 28, 2009
Copy at : http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-eu-russia-ruling-chechnya,0,4039628.story

GROZNY, Russia (AP) — The bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.

Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had "loose morals" and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings.

"If a woman runs around and if a man runs around with her, both of them are killed," Kadyrov told journalists in the capital of this Russian republic.

The 32-year-old former militia leader is carrying out a campaign to impose Islamic values and strengthen the traditional customs of predominantly Muslim Chechnya, in an effort to blunt the appeal of hardline Islamic separatists and shore up his power. In doing so, critics say, he is setting up a dictatorship where Russian laws do not apply.

Some in Russia say Kadyrov's attempt to create an Islamic society violates the Russian constitution, which guarantees equal rights for women and a separation of church and state. But the Kremlin has given him its staunch backing, seeing him as the key to keeping the separatists in check, and that has allowed him to impose his will.

"Kadyrov willfully tries to increase the influence of local customs over the life of the republic because this makes him the absolute ruler of the republic," said Yulia Latynina, a political analyst in Moscow.

Kadyrov's bluster shows how confident he is of his position. "No one can tell us not to be Muslims," he said outside the mosque. "If anyone says I cannot be a Muslim, he is my enemy."

Few dare to challenge Kadyrov's rule in this southern Russian region of more than a million people, which is only now emerging from the devastation of two wars in the past 15 years. The fighting between Islamic separatists and Russian troops, compounded by atrocities on both sides, claimed tens of thousands of lives and terrorized civilians.

Kadyrov describes women as the property of their husbands and says their main role is to bear children. He encourages men to take more than one wife, even though polygamy is illegal in Russia. Women and girls are now required to wear headscarves in all schools, universities and government offices.

Some Chechen women say they support or at least accept Kadyrov's strict new guidelines.

"Headscarves make a woman beautiful," said Zulikhan Nakayeva, a medical student whose long dark hair flowed out from under her head covering, her big brown eyes accentuated by mascara.

But many chafe under the restrictions.

"How do women live in Chechnya? They live as the men say," said Taisiya, 20, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of retribution. She was not wearing a headscarf while shopping in central Grozny, which she said was her way of protesting.

Most women now wear headscarves in public, though the scarves rarely fully cover their hair and in some cases are little more than colorful silk headbands. Women who go out without a headscarf tend to tuck one into their bag for use where headscarves are required.

Many people suspect Kadyrov is branding the seven late November slayings honor killings to advance his political agenda. He said the women were planning to go abroad to work as prostitutes, but their relatives found out about it and killed them.

Few Chechens believe that.

"If women are killed according to tradition then it is done very secretly to prevent too many people from finding out that someone in the family behaved incorrectly," said Natalya Estemirova, a prominent human rights activist in Grozny.

Estemirova said two of the women were married, with two children each. Their husbands held large funerals and buried them in the family plot, which would not have happened if the women had disgraced their families, she said.

Kadyrov's version also has been contradicted by federal prosecutors in Moscow, who have concluded relatives were not involved. No arrests have been made and the investigation is continuing. Kadyrov's office refused to comment on the investigators' conclusion.

The Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that some of the women worked in brothels frequented by Kadyrov's men. Many Chechens say they suspect the women were killed in a police operation. The truth of the killings may never be known, given how much Kadyrov is feared.

Rights activists fear that Kadyrov's approval of honor killings may encourage men to carry them out. Honor killings are considered part of Chechen tradition. No records are kept, but human rights activists estimate dozens of women are killed every year.

"What the president says is law," said Gistam Sakaeva, a Chechen activist who works to defend women's rights. "Because the president said this, many will try to gain his favor by killing someone, even if there is no reason."

Sakaeva also said she worried that Chechen authorities would now be less willing to prosecute men suspected of killing women.

Kadyrov inherited his position from his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, a Muslim cleric and former rebel commander who fought the Russians during Chechnya's war of independence in 1994-1996. Shortly after war broke out again in 1999, the elder Kadyrov switched sides and brought Chechnya back into Moscow's fold.

Ramzan Kadyrov worked as the head of his father's security force, which was accused of kidnapping, sadistic torture and murder. After Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a terrorist bomb in 2004, power passed to his son.

Vladimir Putin, then president and now prime minister, embraced the younger Kadyrov, who has succeeded in ending a wave of terror attacks that haunted the early years of Putin's presidency. But as Kadyrov has consolidated his power, many of his critics and political rivals have been killed. Some have been gunned down on the streets of Moscow, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose death in 2006 shocked the world.

In one of the most recent killings, a Chechen who had accused Kadyrov of personally torturing him was shot last month as he walked out of a grocery store in Vienna, Austria.

Kadyrov has denied any involvement in the killings.

The Kremlin appears willing to continue allowing Kadyrov to rule as he wishes, as long as he prevents another outbreak of violence. And Kadyrov has won the grudging respect of many Chechens for bringing a measure of peace and stability.

"People want to believe that things are getting better," said Sakaeva. "They are tired of war."