Chechens Will Have to Wait
Up to 6 Years for New Homes
Feb. 27, 2002
The Associated Press: The authorities prepared Chechens on Thursday for at least
a five-year wait before all of the destroyed homes in Chechnya are restored
and compensation is paid out to the victims.
Stanislav Ilyasov, the federal minister for Chechnya, said the restoration and
compensation process will take five to six years and cost an estimated 20 billion
rubles ($645 million), Interfax reported.
The first payments are expected to be sent out within months, Finance Minister
Alexei Kudrin said, according to Itar-Tass.
The Kremlin has long been trying to portray the war in Chechnya as over and won.
But fighting continues, and Ilyasov estimated Thursday that there are still about
261,000 displaced people from Chechnya. He told Interfax that 186,000 are living
in Chechnya itself and some 64,000 in the neighboring region of Ingushetia.
Meanwhile, six soldiers were killed and 14 wounded in rebel attacks in the past
24 hours, an official in the pro-Moscow Chechen administration said.
An armored personnel carrier exploded on a land mine in the Shali district, killing
two soldiers and wounding five, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Outside the village of Gorskoye in the Urus-Martan district, riot police clashed
with rebels, leaving one soldier dead and another wounded. Two rebels were also
killed, the official said.
A Chechen riot police unit was shelled in Grozny, killing two police officers
and wounding a third.
Russian aircraft pounded the Nozhai-Yurt district, while artillery shelled rebel
bases in the Nozhai-Yurt, Vedeno and Kurchaloi districts, the official said.
At least 180 people were detained by federal troops in sweep operations conducted
to flush out suspected rebel collaborators.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying in Baku, Azerbaijan,
on Wednesday that while some troops may be moved out of the republic, "no fundamental
troop reductions will be made."