Women in Grozny demand to return to them their relatives abducted by some unknown people.

27 December 2003, 11:36 last update: 27 December 2003, 11:36

The inhabitants of number of districts of the Chechen republic were picketing the main entrance to the complex of Chechnya's admistration buildings in Grozny on Saturday. A source in the law-enforcement agencies of Chechnya reported this to Interfax over the phone.

In particular, several tens of women have blocked the entrance's gate of the administration of Chechnya, demanding to establish the whereabouts of their relaitives and dear ones taken away recently by some unknown armed people.

Relatives of those people who have disappeared without a trace, already carried out a similar action several days ago. In that case, some middle rank officials have met with them and promised to take measures to release their abducted relatives.

Law-enforcement agencies are watching this and so far no power measures have been applied.

http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/article.php?id=15283

Chechen rebels put "tax" on Russian security service

[BBC Monitoring]

The Chechen rebel web site Kavkaz-Tsentr has said that Chechen rebels have issued an ultimatum demanding large sums of money from the Russian security service and pro-Russian authorities in Chechnya and Ingushetia. The web site quoted an anonymous source at the FSB headquarters in Ingushetia as saying that ransoms are being paid to the mojahedin by the leaders of the highest echelons of power and occupation departments in Ingushetia.

Those who refuse to pay face serious problems, Kavkaz-Tsentr said. For example, an Ingush police chief was bombed twice when he refused to pay 100,000 US dollars. The bombings stopped only when he forked out the required sum, the web site added.

The following is a text of report by Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency web site headlined "Riyadus-Salikhin puts a tax on the FSB". Subheadings have been inserted editorially:

According to a report from a correspondent of the Chechen Shari'ah news agency, quoting an anonymous source at the Ingushetian department of the Russian Federal Security Service [FSB], the command of the "Riyadus-Salikhin" Islamic brigade of martyrs has issued an ultimatum demanding large sums of money from the heads of many occupation and puppet power structures, as well as various occupation departments of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and ministries of the Republic of Ingushetia. This has been reported by the Golos Dzhikhada [Voice of Jihad] newspaper (issue No 46), which is published underground in Ichkeria.

Pro-Russian officials in Chechnya and Ingushetia are paying ransoms to rebels

"There is nothing secret about this, because the whole of Chechnya and Ingushetia is talking about this. The special services know perfectly well that many of these leaders have been paying ransoms in the hope that they won't be touched", the paper says, quoting an anonymous source.

An unnamed informant of the newspaper from the FSB even made a joke about this. "In all probability, the fact of the matter is that after [Shamil] Basayev's account was frozen in the USA his team was desperate for funds, and Basayev's organization decided to put a tax on our leaders."

According to the paper, in Ingushetia alone a whole number of leaders in the republic are paying ransoms. Those who refuse face serious problems, including threats on their lives. For example, one of the chiefs of a district department of the Ingushetian Interior Ministry, from whom 100,000 US dollars were demanded was bombed twice. Then the bombings stopped. According to the paper, the defiant chief forked out the required amount. And now he can move around the republic calmly and virtually unprotected.

In another familiar instance in Ingushetia, the head of the so-called sixth department of the Ingushetian Interior Ministry was obliged to pay a sum of 100,000 US dollars. To make it more convincing his house was blown up when it was empty. Then the persecution ceased. A rumour went round Ingushetia that the local communities had apparently pleaded for him. However, it later transpired that the persecution stopped because he had paid the required amount.

Rebels says they pressurized FSB into paying 300,000 dollars

According to the newspaper Golos Dzhikhada, some time ago the Riyadus- Salikhin brigade had pressurized the Ingushetian department of the FSB into paying a cash sum of 300,000 US dollars. However, the chief of the FSB department rejected the demand to pay compensation for his criminal activity, after which the mojahedin started pursuing him in earnest.

In connection with this, the newspaper recalls, after what happened in Magas [explosion at FSB headquarters - editor], a representative of Riyadus-Saliheyn issued a statement which said that the land mines which had been discovered last summer on the route of Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov, had in fact been meant for the chief of the FSB's Ingushetia department, and that the explosion near the FSB building in Magas was in the nature of a "warning".

The fact that the land mines had not been meant for Zyazikov was confirmed later in his statement by the commander of the brigade of martyrs, Abdallah Shamil [Basayev], who pointed out that the explosive device was not even ready for use, since the brigade's special operations department had been told that the head of the FSB department in the Republic of Ichkeria had gone on leave.

In an interview to the Shari'ah news agency, Abdallah Shamil then said the following: "These mines had been laid by mojahedin from a Special Purpose Detachment of the Riyadus-Salikhin brigade or martyrs. They were meant for the head of the department of the FSB for Ingushetia, who lived next to the place to where they had been placed. He went on leave and we placed these mines there for future use, but they were not ready for use and were not meant for Zyazikov, although he deserves it, because, by allowing the atrocities which are happening in Ingushetia today he becomes a participant in the genocide against the Chechen people and stands accused of exacerbating the situation in the republic of Ingushetia".

Rebels change strategy

An anonymous source from the newspaper Golos Dzhikhada at the FSB department for the Republic of Ichkeria reports that, according to its information, ransoms are being paid to the mojahedin by the leaders of the highest echelons of power in Ingushetia and the occupation departments of Chechnya, as well as a number of high- ranking leaders of the so-called power structures of the Republic of Ingushetia and the puppet structures of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria [CRI].

"Our leaders have told us that there is evidence that at one of its recent meetings the command of the fighters adopted a decision to change strategy and instead of destroying military equipment they would carry out explosions against those who refused to pay", the newspaper was told by a source from the FSB department for Ingushetia.

The source does not say whether the 300,000 US dollars demanded from the head of the FSB department for Ingushetia and sums from other Ingushetian structures were a one-off payment or the Riyadus-Salikhin brigade was demanding regular payment.

The paper writes that in the next few days the editors intend to ask for an explanation on this question from the commander of the Riyad us-Salikhin Islamic brigade of martyrs, Abdallah Shamil.

In its turn, the Shari'ah agency reports that on 5 December in the office of the head of the FSB department for Ingushetia in Magas two missiles exploded one after the other, launched from a *"Fagot" installation from the village of Ali-Yurt. This occurred three minutes after the head of the FSB department for Ingushetia had left his office.

The agency points out that the Riyadus-Salikhin report about the places of sojourn and movement of the head of the FSB department for Ingushetia show that at the FSB department for Ingushetia there has been a leak of information at a fairly high level.

At the moment it is not clear, the agency reports, whether the mojahedin intended to wipe out the head of the FSB department, or these two shots were another warning for him. But after this episode the administration of the FSB department for Ingushetia moved down to the basement. But on the upper storeys there is now urgent reconstruction work going on in order to keep the hostages and prisoners of war who are being moved out of the cellars there.

[Signed] Department of cooperation and the media,

Kavkaz-Tsentr

2003-12-24 00:39:50