OSCE: Vote Fundamentally Distorted

By Alex Fak Staff Writer  

International observers on Monday issued a stinging indictment of the State Duma election campaign, calling it a step backward in Russia's transition toward democracy.

Earlier in the day, President Vladimir Putin had said just the opposite, that "the most important result of the Duma elections is that one more step has been made toward the strengthening of democracy in the Russian Federation."

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe, which together had about 500 observers at Sunday's election, however, said the final tally was "fundamentally distorted" in favor of United Russia because of the abuse of administrative resources during the campaign, including preferential coverage in the state media. The election observers also criticized the inclusion of about one-third of the country's governors on United Russia's party list.

The White House weighed in later in the day and threw its support behind the OSCE. "It was the OSCE which monitored the elections, and they expressed concerns about the fairness of the election campaign. We share those concerns," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

The international observers drew a line between the actual voting, which they said the Central Elections Commission carried out "highly professionally," and the election process as a whole, which they said was "fundamentally unfair."

"These elections failed in meeting many OSCE and international standards," said Bruce George, a British MP and president of the OSCE's parliamentary assembly. "We are certain the government knows how to meet these standards. What we are yet to see is the willingness to meet them."

George described it as a "regression in the democratization process in Russia."

The sharpest criticism was directed at the use of "administrative resources," or state infrastructure and personnel, on behalf of United Russia. In many regions, the party used state offices as its local campaign headquarters free of charge, while in others, the monitors said, local governments supplied office equipment and services to Putin's party. Senior officials around the country actively promoted its candidates. In many regions, opposition candidates were barred from meeting voters and, in some instances, denied the use of public advertising space for which they had signed contracts.

Meanwhile, the inclusion on the United Russia party list of about 30 regional leaders "who have no intention of taking a seat is deceitful," said David Atkinson, head of the monitoring delegation from the Council of Europe.

There is an "invisible line" between the natural advantages of incumbency and abuse of executive authority, George noted. "Was that line crossed here? Yes, it was," he said, which led to "the election results being fundamentally distorted."

Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said he agreed with the international observers. As far as the actual voting was concerned, these elections were better than the ones four years ago.

"The Kremlin did not pressure the governors, and the governors, relatively disinterested in the [election] results, allowed the local election committees to report the results objectively," Petrov said.

But as for the process, the latest elections were as much a "disappointment" as in 1999, Petrov said.

The state-funded media also came in for criticism from the OSCE, which said they "failed to comply with their legal obligation under Russian law to provide balanced and unbiased reporting on candidates and political parties."

On election day, for example, a news update on state-controlled Channel One television broadcast back-to-back segments of Putin and United Russia co-leaders Boris Gryzlov and Sergei Shoigu casting their votes and urging Russians to "wake up."

"We regard these elections as free, but they were certainly not fair," Atkinson said.

The OSCE also took the highly unusual step of betraying its preference for the outcome. "I think it is one of the saddest things," said George, commenting on the failure of the two liberal parties, Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces, to surmount the 5 percent barrier for entering the Duma.

Putin, however, said "the government had ensured fair, free and open elections" and the results "reflect the real sympathies of the people, and what the Russian people think, and the realities of political life."

At a press conference held immediately after the OSCE released its preliminary report, Central Elections Commission chief Alexander Veshnyakov dwelled at length on the observers' praise for his commission's work. But he declined to comment on the OSCE's complaints. "Soon, even the greatest skeptics will be left without any questions or doubts" about the outcome of the elections, he said.

Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-connected political analyst, said violations, including "administrative resources," probably did play a big part in the elections. But these are also used in the West, and the difference is one of degree, not kind.

"Strictly speaking, [U.S. President George W.] Bush was not elected democratically either. And in Italy, the prime minister [Silvio Berlusconi] controls 90 percent of TV," he said. "Russia needs democratization, but I'm becoming wary of talking about it, because any discussion of our problems is seized upon by Putin's enemies as a wound to poke at."

The Communist Party has been the most vocal critic of the election. In just two days, the party has received around 150 complaints from all over the country, said Vladimir Ryasnoi, a legal adviser and member of the party's central committee. He said the party will forward the complaints to Veshnyakov and the Prosecutor General's Office.

Leaders of two parties seen as clear winners -- Dmitry Rogozin of Rodina (Homeland) and Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party -- separately called the OSCE's assessment "interference in the internal affairs of Russia."

OSCE, in its turn, criticized LDPR for making "xenophobic, racist and extreme nationalist statements" during the campaign.

The observers singled out Bashkortostan for particular criticism, with George saying there were "elements of blatant fraud" in both the Duma contests and the republic's presidential election.

On Friday, a second radio station that had talked about the opponents of incumbent President Murtaza Rakhimov was taken off the air. On Sunday, the vote counting was temporarily suspended after a power outage in the office of the election committee. Power outages have been the local administration's favorite tactic in dealing with rivals.

OSCE also noted that oil refinery workers in Bashkortostan were herded to vote en masse on Sunday, having been threatened with losing their jobs if they refused.

Dec. 8, 2003. 07:50 AM

Rights group condemns Russian elections

MOSCOW - (Reuters), Dec.8 Officials from Europe's top security and human rights watchdog condemned Russia's parliamentary elections today, saying they felt short of international requirements and represented a retreat from Russia's democratic reforms.

The head of the parliamentary assembly for the Organization for the Security and Co-operation in Europe, Bruce George, told a news conference that the ballot "failed to meet ... international standards."

"Our main impression of the overall electoral process was ... one of regression in the democratization of this country," he said.

Monday, Dec. 8, 2003. Page 03 The Moscow Times

Complaints of Fraud And Ballot Stuffing

By Catherine Belton and Timur Aliev

Special to The Moscow Times From suspected vote rigging in Chechnya and alleged stuffed ballot boxes in Kirov to disappearing election committee stamps in Tuva, observers from opposition parties said a slew of violations tarnished the elections Sunday.

The head of the Communist Party's legal department, Vadim Solovyov, said the party's team of 200,000 observers had toted up a litany of apparently fraudulent voting schemes and had passed on its evidence to international monitors. He said the party had called on prosecutors to open criminal investigations into several alleged violations.

But Central Elections Commission chief Alexander Veshnyakov said the vote appeared to have passed "without excesses," while independent monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe still faced a check of ballots through the night and were saving their conclusions for a news conference Monday.

In Chechnya, some observers claimed ballot stuffing doubled voter turnout to more than 70 percent.

"At this polling station only 200 people voted, or about 10 percent," said Ruslan Khadashev, an observer for single-mandate independent candidate Salambek Maigov. "I don't know where they got 70 percent from."

An election official at Polling Station No. 403 in Grozny said the station had been ordered to ensure a turnout of 85 percent. "We filled in 1,000 ballots yesterday. As a percentage of the number of people allocated to this polling station -- 2,100 -- that's almost 50 percent. The rest we have to get by way of real voting," said the official, Ziyavdi Chagayev.

The most complicated thing was to try and distract the attention of observers, he said. "You needed to put the ballots in one by one. If you stuck a whole packet in together, it would have been noticed during the count.

"The 1,000 ballots we filled in were for United Russia and Akhmar Zavgayev. It was said officially that we should support them." Zavgayev had the blessing of the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration and was running for Chechnya's single State Duma seat. According to a preliminary count late Sunday, he had 100 percent of the vote.

Chechens polled on the street expressed little interest in voting. "What's the point in voting when the results are known beforehand?" said Zarema Dyshneyeva, 33, a teacher of foreign literature at Chechen State University. "Everything's decided without us and for us."

Authorities, however, said the vote in Chechnya and elsewhere appeared to have been conducted without major violations. Veshnyakov conceded there had been problems in Bashkortostan, where observers were temporarily barred from doing their jobs, and noted there had been an electricity blackout in parts of St. Petersburg, Interfax reported. But he said all these events appeared to have been dealt with immediately and had "no serious consequences."

Even before preliminary results started coming in, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov complained about violations. "Unfortunately, there have been a lot of violations," he said. "In Primorye, the governor is calling on everyone to vote for the democrats. Yesterday in Yakutia, the vice president called on everyone to vote for whomever he considered necessary. This is a violation."

Solovyov listed just some of the violations uncovered by his party, including: ballots being handed out to more than 100 villagers in Udmurtia the day before elections with the box for United Russia already ticked off; 120 ballots at a polling station in the Altai region with the Communist Party scrubbed out; a missing election committee stamp in Tuva; and observers being barred from polling stations in Dagestan.

Yabloko deputy head Sergei Ivanenko said his party's observers had uncovered some violations in the Far East and the Urals but had no complaints yet.

Galina Mikhalyova, head of Yabloko's analytical center, said the day's first complaint came from Vladivostok Polling Station No. 310 at about 5 a.m. Moscow time. A Yabloko observer complained about a fraud nicknamed "carousel," in which someone obtains a clean ballot, fills it in favor of the party he chooses and pays a voter to cast the filled ballot. The money is handed over after the voter returns with a clean ballot of his own. The observer called the police and election officials, and the suspects left in a minivan, Mikhalyova said.

An OSCE spokeswoman said, meanwhile, that the watchdog was waiting to see how sweeping media bias in favor of United Russia "had affected the outcome."

Official Chechen voter turnout high, but polling stations are empty Local election officials reported 70 per cent turnout in Chechnya for Russia's parliamentary vote Sunday, but most polling stations in the war-shattered republic appeared to be practically empty. Many Chechens said they would not vote because they don't believe that either Russian politicians or local ones can bring law and order.

Lines of voters snaked out of polling stations in Tsentoroi, the hometown of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader. But local residents seemed less than enthusiastic.

"I came to vote not because I wanted to, but because I am afraid not to," Mokhadi, who would not give his full name, told an Associated Press reporter.

In the regional capital Grozny, polling stations stood empty, much as they did during the October vote for the Chechen president, when official results said Kremlin-backed Akhmad Kadyrov won by a huge margin.

Just as they did then, officials at individual polling districts said the polling places were nearly deserted because it was lunchtime, and that reporters should come back later. In October, official turnout was an exceptional 90 per cent while observers spoke of "ghost towns."

"The performance was acted out flawlessly that time. It is this time too, and they will act wonderfully next spring as well when . . . Chechnya will vote almost 100 per cent for a second term for the incumbent president, no matter what," said Rezaudi, a 42-year-old Grozny resident, referring to the March election in which Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to win a second term. Rezaudi said he does not intend to vote.

Some 70 per cent of eligible voters in Chechnya had participated in the elections by 6 p.m., Chechnya's Election Commission chairman Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. The press service of Russia's Central Election Commission in Moscow said that the figure was closer to 40 per cent.

In the Soglasiye refugee camp in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia, Chechen refugees expressed disgust and frustration.

"Nothing will depend on my vote . . . If they were interested in our vote, they would have opened polling stations here," says Vakhid Bersanov, 52, who has been living in the camp of 1,300 refugees for three years.

"Refugees need homes, not elections . . . Elections in Chechnya are conducted at gunpoint," former Grozny resident Khasan Abuyev said while trudging down a muddy path.

Samsudy Murtasayev arranged a bus to take voters from Ingushetia to the Chechen village of Assinovskaya to cast their ballots. Only 20 people decided to go; and when the bus, decorated with a big Russian flag, arrived in Assinovskaya, "no one there was aware of us", Murtasayev complained.

There are more than 585,000 eligible voters in Chechnya and seven candidates for the Chechen district seat.

Following a Friday suicide bombing in the nearby Stavropol region that killed 42 people, security was beefed up, with extra patrols around polling stations in Chechnya. The region's interior minister, General Alu-Alkhanov, reported that there had been no serious incidents, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

[08.12.2003 11:33] AP

Aid Groups Complain of Russian Harassment

Organizations Helping Chechen Refugees Report Restricted Access, Seized Computers

By Peter Slevin

Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, December 8, 2003; Page A17

International aid groups working with Chechen refugees report intensifying harassment from Russian authorities who have seized computers, attempted to freeze bank accounts and made it difficult for relief workers to reach the people they are trying to help.

The trouble has increased in recent months, according to aid workers in the North Caucasus, who feel isolated and vulnerable in a region where kidnappings and violence are common and judicial accountability is an afterthought at best.

The Bush administration has complained to the Russian government of President Vladimir Putin, urging the Moscow authorities to order an end to the harassment of the relief organizations and grant better access to tens of thousands of refugees living outside Chechnya, a rebellious Russian province.

"It's the type of thing Russian law enforcement does to harass Russian businesses and others they are not happy with," said a U.S. official who works on the issue. "The Russian government is aware of our concern. Our interest has had a moderating influence, although it clearly has not stopped the harassment."

The United Nations reported last week that Russian authorities closed down the Aki Yurt tent camp in Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya, and evicted about 1,500 displaced Chechens. U.N. staff members said they were denied entry to the camp during the evictions.

Authorities cut electricity supplies to five of six temporary Chechen settlements and nearby mud brick houses as the temperatures dropped below freezing, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported.

The United Nations estimates that 110,000 people who fled war, lawlessness and destruction in Chechnya are scattered in Ingushetia's inhospitable borderlands. Many feel forgotten and fearful, resigned to the belief that the rugged conditions are an improvement over what awaits them in their homeland.

Ingush authorities, who put the refugee total at half that number, are anxious for the Chechens to leave. The Putin government similarly wants to see the refugees repatriated as evidence to the world that the war in the province is over and normality is returning. An estimated 30,000 refugees returned this year.

"One of the reasons they want to close the camps is they're very visible," said an Ingushetia-based aid worker who requested anonymity for fear of Russian reprisals. Asserting that the pressure on international aid groups has been increasing, the worker said the rules for access change "from day to day and NGO to NGO." NGO stands for nongovernmental organization.

A U.S.-based worker who has visited the region said, "On a daily basis, someone knocks on our door and says, 'We need to inspect you.' "

Relief organizations in Ingushetia report two principal areas of trouble. The first is what they collectively describe as constant harassment by local and federal authorities. The second is the limited access to the Chechens in tent camps -- and to battered Chechnya itself.

Among the tactics they report are petty enforcement operations, such as fire inspections and demands to know whether computer software has been registered. Computers have been seized, and authorities tried to freeze bank accounts, an effort that international staff members said would paralyze relief programs.

Threats and intimidation are common, staff members contend, and relief workers typically hire armed bodyguards to protect them day and night.

Among the groups that have been harassed are CARE, the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps and Action Against Hunger. All belong to InterAction, an umbrella group of U.S.-based international relief and development organizations.

InterAction President Mary E. McClymont credited the Bush administration for raising the issue with the Putin government and said she hopes the Russian federal authorities "will bring an end to such behavior."

The Ingushetia-based relief worker said it is hard to be optimistic. The Russian authorities, he lamented, "would like us to move all our operations to Chechnya."

08 December 2003

Chechen rights activist appeals for help to free his brother

[BBC Monitoring]

Chechen rights activist Ruslan Badalov has appealed to public opinion in Russia and abroad for help in obtaining the release of his brother, who he says has been framed by the Russian security services.

Bislan Badalov was arrested in Russia's Tver Region after two men accused him of attempted assassination and robbery. The accusers had themselves swindled Bislan Badalov and attempted to kill him with a car bomb, the appeal says. Bislan Badalov has been in prison for five months, although legal proceedings have yet to be instituted in the case.

Ruslan Badalov, who is chairman of the Chechen National Salvation Committee, says in the appeal that in Bislan Badalov "the provocateurs have found a `weak link' through whom they can discredit me, too, and all those noble ideas to which I have become devoted".

The following is the text of the appeal as published by Chechen news agency Daymohk web site "We have always set great store by our reputation. An appeal to the Russian people and the international public"; subheadings inserted editorially:

Each people has its own individual mentality which sets it apart from others and the Chechen people are no exception to this rule. For this reason, above all else, one must look at their national characteristics in order to explain the actions of individuals. It is of great regret that the Chechens have still not fully developed a culture of protection of human rights and freedoms. Representatives of our nation, who are frequently subjected to the tyranny of the Russian authorities, prefer not to turn to the courts of law in order to uphold their rights. They realize the pointlessness of such a step, because in the Russia of today the protection of human rights and freedoms and the honour and dignity of citizens does not extend to the Chechens.

In this appeal I have felt the need to inform the public of an event which directly concerns me and those closest to me. As far as I personally am concerned, being a former member of the Soviet national free-style wrestling team, I devoted my whole life to Soviet sport. My brothers and I, through our achievements in the Russian, all-union and international sporting arenas, spent many years defending the honour of Russian and Soviet sport. In our daily lives we have always set great store by our reputation and observed public moral and legal standards and because of that not one of the eight Badalov brothers has ever been involved in anything illegal.

In spite of that we found ourselves the victims of an extreme injustice. My younger brother Bislan Nudreyevich Badalov, born in 1973, was like me a well-known free-style wrestler. He is now under arrest in Vyshnyy Volochek (Tver Region), accused of a crime he did not commit. This may be clearly seen from the details of an investigation which bases its accusations only on the testimony of people whom my brother accuses of attempting to assassinate him.

What happened was that in July of this year, an explosive device was placed under my brother's car which exploded and set the vehicle ablaze. My brother survived only by a miracle. (The assassination attempt on my brother took place in the town of Udomlya, where Bislan was living with the families of his two elder brothers.) Bislan accused two people [name omitted] of this outrage. They had a clear motive, because in the past they had swindled and robbed my brother, then promised to pay back the debt provided my brother said nothing to the police about the attempt on his life. So Bislan's suspicions were well founded and a month later the suspects took Bislan to court.

Clearly, the special services had encouraged them to do this. Now it seems that my brother, the one who suffered in all this, is being depicted as the criminal. He is being accused of attempting to assassinate them and of robbery, despite the fact that my brother has an absolutely impeccable reputation, which he has always put great store by, and it was for this reason alone that he took the word of people who first helped to rob him and then tried to kill him. All that Bislan is guilty of is his trust, for which he has had to pay.

From Kozlov's testimony it appears that the operation to arrest Bislan was carried out by RUBOP [regional department to combat organized crime] and the FSB [Federal Security Service]. Despite the utter flimsiness of the charges and the absence of any witnesses, apart from those who carried out the assassination attempt, he is still being held under arrest. The prejudice of the investigation, which after five months has still failed to institute any proceedings in this case, is astonishing. All they have done is to bring a case of damage to property, whilst ignoring the fact that during the explosion the victim (my brother) was in the vehicle and only survived through a fortunate chain of circumstances.

Campaign of intimidation against journalists and campaigners

One can't help but wonder: is this episode with my brother not just a stage in a whole series of provocations, because of the fact that I am a defender of human rights and my activities are not to the liking of certain structures who, by staying in the shadows, are puppets in this cruel, dirty game in which a sportsman, Chechen Bislan Badalov, has become a victim? The provocateurs have found in him a "weak link", through whom they can discredit me, too, and all those noble ideas to which I have become devoted.

It is important to remember that [pro-Moscow Chechen leader Akhmat] Kadyrov once threatened me, saying: "Oh, [Ruslan] Kutayev and Badalov have settled in neighbouring Ingushetia." As though Ingushetia was Turkey or France, there's no end to where the "hand of the Kremlin will reach". (Vesti Groznogo [Groznyy News] newspaper, issue No 14, 25 March 2002) One has only to look at the Moscow weekly newspaper Versiya [Version] (issue 31, 12-18 August 2002) to see how single- minded this frenzied campaign against Badalov has become.

The radio station Chechnya Svododnaya [Free Chechnya] comes into the same category. Talking to journalists on 21 February 2003, Kadyrov said literally the following: "The people have expressed their will and supported the referendum and those who oppose it are enemies of the people and we must get rid of them." Unfortunately, Kadyrov's threats partially materialized, because on 4 July in Nazran a France- Presse journalist Ali Astamirov was kidnapped in broad daylight, and still nothing is known as to what happened to him.

Journalists and human rights campaigners, who are objectively reporting the tragedy of Chechnya, are working with this same sense of fearful expectation, as it could cost them their lives or their freedom at any moment. Literally the day before my brother's arrest in June, a masked gang, armed to the teeth, raided the home of my elderly parents in the village of Gekhi in Urus-Martanovskiy district. They turned everything upside down. The uninvited visitors asked them about my brothers, especially Bislan. To be fair, they miscalculated.

Set against the background of what is going on in Chechnya today, hardly anyone is bothered about someone of Chechen nationality, of a people who as a result of the efforts of the media going back several years has been almost completely discredited and virtually outlawed. But in Russia and the rest of the world there are still people who seek the truth and justice, who will not be driven into a corner, because the voice of the people has always played a decisive role.

And for that reason I am appealing precisely to public opinion, to prestigious organizations, representatives of the intelligentsia, sportsmen and ordinary citizens to fight for the honour and release of Bislan Badalov, who is still being kept unjustly under arrest by the Chechenophobic special services.

Ruslan Badalov, chairman of the Chechen National Salvation Committee regional public movement

5 December 2003 Nazran, Ingushetia.

[08.12.2003 17:50] Prima News Agency

Extract from a conference of the ChRI State Defense Committee, chaired by President A. Maskhadov.

[snip]

With regard to the bombing of the electric train in Yessentuki, the president stated that "this inhuman act smells of an FSB provocation from miles away". Aslan Maskhadov again stressed that the leadership of the ChRI decisively condemns both state and individual terrorism in all its manifestations.

"The logic of opposition to the state terror unleashed against the Chechen citizens by Putin's criminal regime, forces us to adhere to the rules of international criminal law, since only this position can ensure us of the support of the world community in these hard times. Therefore, it is not only the requirements of morals, but also simple political pragmatism, which forces the Chechen leadership and the Resistance forces to avoid all actions, including those at an individual level, which can be viewed as manifestations of terrorism".

Chechenpress, 08.12.03

http://chechenpress.info/news/12_2003/9_08_12.shtml

[Unauthorized translation by N.L.]


Powerful explosion shakes central Moscow

TEXT: Irina Petrakova 

A powerful blast killed at least five people and left 14 injured in the very centre of Moscow, outside the National Hotel on Tverskaya Street. Investigators do not rule out that it was a terrorist attack. According to some reports, it was perpetrated by a female suicide bomber, whose body was torn apart by the blast.

A powerful blast occurred on Tuesday morning in the centre of Moscow, near Manezh Square. The explosive device went off at 10h50 near a Mercedes-320 car parked near the National Hotel at, 1 Tverskaya Street, the city police directorate reported. .

City police, FSB and rescue teams immediately arrived at the scene. According to the city police, four people were killed immediately in the blast, one died on the way to hospital. 14 others were injured, the officer-on-duty at the city centre for civil defence and emergency situations told Gazeta.Ru. According to our correspondent, reporting from the scene, some of those injured were the passengers of the Mercedes, others were passer-bys. None of the hotel's guests were injured.

According to preliminary reports, all the injured were admitted to the Sklifosovsky First Aid Institute. Most of them are in critical condition, doctors have said.

A witness, who was in his room at the National Hotel when the blast occurred, told Gazeta.Ru that when he went out of the hotel soon after the attack, he saw dismembered dead bodies, hands and legs lying around on the pavement. "It was a very frightful sight, I decided never to come back here again, I am just shocked," a tourist from France said.

Immediately after the blast the police cordoned off the area and blocked car traffic on all adjacent streets, clearing the way for ambulances, explosive experts and investigators.

Investigators say the explosion could have been a terrorist attack. ITAR-TASS reported that police pointed to a woman suicide bomber. Some reports said that one of the victims of the blast was a woman, whose body was almost fully destroyed by the blast. Her severed head lay on the pavement next to a briefcase, that police said could contain more explosives that failed to detonate. Police officials do not rule out that the woman was the suicide bomber, responsible for the attack.

Police spokesman, Kirill Mazurin, at the site, said four people were killed outright. He said other officials had reported another death in an ambulance on the way to hospital. He said investigators were considering all possible versions behind the blast, including the possibility it was a settling of accounts by a criminal gang. "We cannot rule out any possible version," he said. "It might be linked to the professional activity of firms with offices in the hotel."

An investigation has been launched into murder and terrorism, the prosecutor's office of Moscow told Gazeta.Ru. The explosion occurred two days after parliamentary elections in which Putin's allies scored a resounding victory. It also followed an apparent suicide attack on a commuter train near Russia's rebel Chechnya region last Friday, which killed at 44 people. 09 Gazera ru  14:58

CHECHEN REPUBLIC OF ICHKERIA MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Press-release: Terrorism in Russia is organized and managed by the Russian security and military intelligence services for propaganda and scapegoating purposes

December 9, 2003

Terrorism in Russia is organized and managed by the Russian security and military intelligence services for propaganda and scapegoating purposes. We do not think that the latest bombing in Moscow is an exception to this rule.

The fact that Russian security services in committing terrorist acts in Russia and elsewhere occasionally use their agents of Chechen origin does not make the Chechen people and the Chechen government responsible for the Kremlin's dreadful crimes. The Chechen government will not, under any circumstances, accept violence against civilians and civilian objects. We repeat that we condemn terrorism in all its forms.

We regret that the western governments fail to see that it is Russian governmental structures that organize these terrorist acts and that it is Russian agents that carry out these terrorist acts. There is a plenty of evidence to this.

For instance, Mr. Khanpasha Terkibaev, an ethnic Chechen serving for the Russian Secret Service and who is one of the main organizers and direct participant of the hostage taking in the Moscow Theater Center at Dubrovka in October 2002, is a clear proof that terror in Russia comes from the Russian government.

Mr. Khanpasha Terkibaev even after the hostage taking has continued to work for the Russian state structures, including the deputy head of President Putin's administration Mr. Vladislav Yuryevich Surkov and Putin's aide Mr. Sergei Vladimirovich Yastrzhembsky. As the hostage taking ended in killing not only Russian but also western nationals, we believe that western governments should no longer close eyes to Kremlin’s role in terrorism. [1]"

Press Office

[1] See, for instance, Anna Politkovskaya’s article in Novaya Gazeta, issue # 30, 28 April 2003.