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OF ICHKERIA
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Press release: Yandarbiyev is killed in a Russian terrorist attack February 13, 2004 The Chechen Ministry of Foreign Affairs most strongly condemns the terrorist attack in the Qatari capital Doha today that killed former acting Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and severely injured his 13-year-old son. We have no doubt that this cowardly terrorist attack, like the one that killed the first freely elected Chechen President Djokhar Dudaev in April 1996, was planned and executed by the Russian security services in the fulfillment of orders coming from the highest level of the Russian state. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria hopes that the Qatari authorities will take all necessary measures to bring the perpetrators of this terrorist act to justice. Press Office www.chechnya-mfa.info
Chechenpress Another bloody crime has been added to the account of the Kremlin. Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, ex-President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, died in a car explosion when he was returning from the Friday prayers. His teenage son Daud suffered serious injuries. There is no doubt whatsoever that the vile terrorist act against Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev was committed by the Russian special services, which "in the best traditions" of the NKVD-KGB are settling up with the most steadfast supporters of Chechen independence. The representatives of the Russian special services and their despised lackeys from the Chechen puppets are distributing cynical "versions" about "blood revenge", "undivided money", and so forth in the same style. Such statements were also made by the Russian war criminals and their followers in April 1996, when the first president of the ChRI, Johar Dudayev, was killed by the explosion of a missile fired from a Russian aircraft. After a couple of years had passed, Dudayev's killers, confident about their impunity, openly told on the television screens how they carried out the "special operation" to murder the Chechen leader, and showed off with their state rewards which Yeltsin personally had given them in secrecy in 1996. There's little doubt that the same procedure is happening in the Kremlin also today: the killers of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev receive rewards for the "successfully carried out special operation" from the hands of the executioner of the Chechen people, Putin. Today we declare with full authority: the mass murders of innocent Chechen civilians, the Chechen towns and villages eradicated from the face of the earth, the mountain of children who were left orphans and crippled by the Russian chastisers, the tears of the widows and mothers who lost their relatives, the tortures and humiliations against Chechens in the Russian torture chambers, unprecedented in the world, and the despicable - from any perspective - murders of Chechen leaders, have become unbearable. The open destruction of an entire nation is happening under the eyes of the whole world, with indifference and direct connivance from the so-called international community. We warn: The Chechen slaughterhouse has lost the last remainders of political sense and has been converted into an arena of aimless hatred and mutual destruction, which threatens to assume the most monstrous forms. It isn't too late yet to stop these disastrous processes, still some hope remains for the sound sense of the leaders of influential powers in the world, who - if they want - are capable of stopping the Kremlin clique, which is already choking in the Chechen and Russian blood it has spilled. Tomorrow, when control of all the processes will finally have been lost, it will be too late to do anything, to talk about peace and compromises. May the Omnipotent Creator help us on the way of reason and justice! On behalf and on the commission of the President and Government of the ChRI, Ahmed Zakayev, Vice-premier of the Chechen government, Special Representative of the President of the ChRI Chechenpress, 13.02.04 http://chechenpress.com/news/2004/02/13/21.shtml [Unauthorized translation by N.S.]
Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Ivan Rybkin, the Russian presidential candidate who went missing for five days earlier this month, said he disappeared because he was kidnapped and drugged. The politician said he doesn't know who kidnapped him and said that he will stay out of Russia until presidential elections on March 14. Rybkin's statement was distributed before a press conference in London. Rybkin, 57, reappeared on Tuesday and said he had been spending time with friends in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, in remarks broadcast by Russia's NTV television. Rybkin had declined to explain his disappearance to Moscow radio station Echo Moskvy when interviewed on Wednesday. ``My absence from Russia will tell the Russian voters and Western governments a 100 times more than my presence,'' Rybkin said in the statement. ``After what happened in Kiev I am convinced that this election is a game without rules. Rybkin has criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has received support from Boris Berezovsky, a billionaire who has been granted political asylum in the U.K. and is wanted in Russia on charges of fraud. Berezovsky denies the charges and says are politically motivated. Russian politician says was drugged Fri 13 February By Toni Vorobyova LONDON (Reuters) - Russian presidential hopeful Ivan Rybkin has plunged poll watchers into more confusion by saying he was drugged and filmed in a "disgusting" video in Ukraine during the five days he was missing without explanation. Rybkin's account to journalists in London on Friday was the third time he had tried to explain why he had gone off to Kiev without telling his wife or campaign aides, triggering a police manhunt, and what he did before he resurfaced five days later. On his return to Moscow, Rybkin, a harsh critic of President Vladimir Putin, initially said he had been with friends, but later told an interviewer he had feared for his life and gone into hiding for part of the time in the Ukrainian capital. On Friday, Rybkin said he had gone to a Kiev flat in the company of strangers who said he would be meeting Chechnya's fugitive president Aslan Maskhadov (*). He awoke after a time to find himself alongside two armed men who showed him and others in "disgusting" video films intended to compromise him. "All my statements in recent days in Kiev and in Moscow do not reflect the reality and were forced. I was trying to ensure the safety of my family and myself," he said. "I don't know who did it, but I know who would benefit from it. It benefits those who want to compromise and humiliate the opposition." Like five other challengers running in the March 14 contest, Rybkin is unlikely to score more than a few percentage points against the widely popular Putin. Moscow media have reacted with incredulity to earlier explanations of his disappearance. Rybkin, a former speaker of parliament and negotiator with Chechen rebels, said he decided during his captivity he would remain in the presidential race come what may. "I decided that I didn't care about my reputation or whatever might happen to me and that I would do all I could to prevent all those incompetents and President Putin from destroying my country," he said. "From today I am launching an election campaign from here, from abroad." Rybkin has been backed by exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who launches periodic attacks on Putin from his base in Britain, where he has been awarded political asylum. Berezovsky, who did not take a place set aside for him at Friday's news conference, expressed surprise at Rybkin's disappearance this week and said that unless a reasonable explanation was given his political career was over. Rybkin said he would remain in western Europe until after the elections to ensure the safety of his family. But unlike Berezovsky, he had no intention of seeking asylum and pledged to return to Russia whatever the result of the election. Asked if he still had Berezovsky's support, Rybkin replied that the Berezovsky-sponsored Liberal Russia party continued to back his candidature. Council of Nongovermental Organizations web site on 12 February 12 February: Twenty Chechen refugee families left the Bart tent camp in the town of Karabulak, Ingushetia, on 10 February and headed for Chechnya. They are all residents of the village of Gikalo of [Chechnya's] Groznenskiy District. The refugees explain their "voluntary" return to the motherland by incessant pressure from officials of different ranks. Moreover, the refugees at the Bart camp have already been told that this camp will be closed down on 1 March this year. They have been told either to return to Chechnya "of their own volition" or to stay in other temporary settlement centres in Ingushetia, which will also be closed down in a while. The refugees say that as the date for the official and final closure of the camps in Ingushetia (1 March 2004) is approaching, officials and different bodies have increased moral and psychological pressure on them.
http://www.daymohk.info/rus/index.php?mode=1&element=5574 12 February 2004 [BBC Monitoring] A group of Russian rights champions have come up with a plan to end the war in Chechnya. In a statement public by the Chechen rebel web site Daymohk, they propose that the Kremlin conduct talks with Chechen rebel leaders and recognize the right of the Chechen people to self-determination. After that, it is necessary to sign an agreement on placing Chechnya under international provisional administration and inviting a peacekeeping force to the republic, they said. The agreement must also stipulate the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya and the disarmament of Chechen Resistance forces, the campaigners added. They also expressed their support for Chechen rebel foreign minister Ilyas Akhmadov's peace plan, saying that it is very close to their ideas and could become a general unifying platform of the antiwar forces. The following is a text of report by Chechen news agency Daymohk web site headlined "We accuse the Russian authorities of the deaths of all those killed in this war". Subheadings have been inserted editorially: A statement of the public initiative movement: "For peace in Chechnya and recognition of the right of the Chechen people to self-determination". "A full-scale war against the people" More than four years ago [Russian President] Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a "counter-terrorist operation" to safeguard the Russian citizens from attacks by armed detachments of the Basayev, who had also been charged with involvement in the blowing up of homes in Moscow and Volgodonsk (which has never been proved). Colossal material and technical resources were mobilized. The army was given complete freedom to bomb, cleanse, seize, torture and execute people. Neither the Russian press nor Western leaders intervened. The outcome was more wholesale destruction, the deaths of tens of thousands more people, and the intolerable suffering of hundreds of thousands of those who had survived. Meanwhile, the forces of the Resistance (including Basayev's detachments) continue to operate and increase in numbers, and the Russian army continues to lose an average of up to a hundred men a month in Chechnya. The victims of terrorist acts on Russian territory are also multiplying. None of the special services is able to stop the suicide bombers who are blinded by the need for vengeance. Human rights activists warned Boris Yeltsin and the Russian society about the dangers of such a development of events back at the beginning of the first Chechen war. But in 1999 the authorities made their final choice, which was to cleverly stir up an imperialist- chauvinist hysteria which took hold of society. They rejected the path of political compromise with the supporters of Chechnya's independence, demanding their unconditional capitulation and unconditional renunciation of their objectives. They did not even consider the possibility of the Chechen people themselves solving the question of Chechnya's independence. That is precisely why "the operation to destroy a bunch of fundamentalists" became a full-scale war against the people, a war during which this people has been subjected to terror and mockery on a huge scale. Chechens have the right to choose their own future We believe that the political choice which the Russian authorities made then was a criminal one, just as all their subsequent practical actions in Chechnya have been criminal. We accuse the Russian authorities of the deaths of all those who have died in this war, whether they be Chechen or Russian, people with weapons or peaceful citizens. Because the death of all these people is the result of a deliberate political choice of our authorities. It is not so important who is responsible for the recent explosion in Moscow - provocateurs of the Russian special services, Basayev or avengers working alone. In any event, this explosion is the outcome of the continuing Chechen war. We believe that the Chechen people have the right to choose their own future. We believed and still believe the right of the Chechen people to armed resistance against the violence in Chechnya to be lawful. Of course, we do not approve of the methods of the struggle, the victims of which are the peaceful citizens, even those guilty of conniving with the Russian terror in Chechnya. But we consider it our duty to state the following: 1. Terrorism is the result of bitterness caused by the injustice which has been committed against the Chechen people. The roots of this terrorism can only be pulled up by putting an end to this injustice. 2. Talks with any terrorists (even those in the Kremlin) are morally and politically justified if such talks can lead to an agreement which puts an end to the bloodshed. Any demands must be considered from the point of view of their justness, irrespective of who makes them. Russia must conduct talks with Chechen leaders We have stated more than once and continue to believe that: 1) The Russian side must conduct talks with those people whom the Chechen Resistance recognizes as their leaders; 2) The basis of talks must be recognition in principle by the Russian side of the right of the Chechen people to self-determination through their own free will; the conditions, timescale and mechanisms of such a free will must be the subject of the talks; 3) An agreement on the placing of Chechnya under provisional international administration and the inviting of international peacekeeping forces to Chechnya must become an optimum result of these talks, and a mutually acceptable list of countries which will offer a peacekeeping contingent to maintain stability in Chechnya during the interim period must be agreed. 4) It must be stipulated in the agreement that - - The Russian armed formations withdraw from Chechnya following the entry of the international forces, and the Chechen Resistance is disarmed following the departure of all the Russian armed formations; - The final status of the territory of Chechnya is to be decided by its people after the expiry of the transitional period for the rebuilding of normal life. "Akhmadov plan" The [Chechen rebel foreign minister Ilyas] "Akhmadov plan", which has been put forward by the government of the CRI [Chechen Republic of Ichkeria] is very close to our ideas of ways towards a settlement of the Chechen problem. Recently this plan has become widely known, and it has been supported by a whole number of representatives of the democratic public both in Russia and abroad (including a large group of deputies of the European Parliament). Therefore, the "Akhmadov plan" could today at least become a general, preliminary unifying platform of the antiwar forces. We realize that the only insurmountable obstacle at the moment to the realization of the "Akhmadov plan" (as with any other peace plan) is the stubbornness and ambitions of the Putin regime. We understand that it is pointless appealing to the common sense and conscience of the powerful favourites in the Kremlin, and that they can only be forced into compromise through vigorous public pressure, especially from within Russia. That is why we are appealing to all the opposition forces in Russia, to all the opposition candidates at the forthcoming elections to put the Chechen war at the centre of your criticism of the Putin regime! Putin came to power through the Chechen war. His power even now is set towards persuading the majority of the people that "the policy of our regime in Chechnya is justified by the highest state interests, and there is no other solution than a war which will settle everything". To explain to the people that no "highest interests" can justify the sacrifices brought by both Russia and Chechnya in this war, to show that these sacrifices have been made for the benefit of the mercenary political interests of the ruling hierarchy, and to convince society that there is another worthy and sensible option would mean saving Russia. 8 February 2004 From the public initiative movement "For peace in Chechnya and recognition of the right of the Chechen people to self- determination": Aleksandr Skobov, Yuliy Rybakov, Yekaterina Molostvova, Boris Gabe, Pavel Viktorov, Miron Muzhdaba, Sergey Khakhayev, Mikhail Pushnitskiy. Daymohk, 10 February 2004.
13.2.2004
CHECHNYA, Grozny. During the day on February 9, residents of theAssinovskaya village in Chechnya’s Sunzhensky region staged a massiveprotest. Those in attendance blocked the “Caucasus” line for threehours, cutting off all traffic on this road, including militaryvehicles. The reason for their protest was the capture by Russianfighters of Rustam Dzhakalaev on February 3 in the village ofOrdzhenikidze (Ingushetia). According to the information agency SNO, on that day members of theRussian security forces arrived in Ordzhenikidze in two cars, shotChechen refugee and native of the village Assinovskaya Rustam Dzhakalaevwith automatic weapons, and then took him in an unknown direction.According to witnesses, the soldiers shot their automatic weaponsseveral times, after which they approached the young man, his bloodflowing everywhere, threw him into one of their cars, and then carriedhim away in an unknown direction. The attempts of Rustam Dzhakalaev’s relatives to ascertain hiswhereabouts and fate have thus far been fruitless. It’s not even knownwhether he is alive, or was killed at the moment of his capture. Inconnection with his disappearance, residents of Assinovskaya organized ameeting without the permission of the authorities, and demanded that asearch for Rustam be undertaken immediately and that he be returnedhome. Local administrators and the security forces present at theprotest promised to take all the necessary actions to find Rustam, afterwhich the protesters dispersed. Translated by Rebecca Gould
13.2.2004
INGUSHETIA. In the tent camps and other places where Chechen refugeeslive in Ingushetia, the water supply has been cut off. According to theinformation agency SNO, on February 11, representatives of “DoctorsWithout Borders” traveled through various places where Chechen refugeesreside, among them the tent camps “Satsita” and “Sputnik” (village ofOrdzhenikidze), “Bart” (in the town of Karabulak) and several otherplaces of temporary residence (also known as PVRs). In all of theseplaces, the water supply had been cut off. Due to the absence of water among the refugee camps and PVR’s therecould be an outbreak of infectious diseases, considering that peoplemust not only drastically reduce their use of water, but that they arealso forced to get water from rivers and other sources. According to therefugee population, the shutting off of water marks the beginning of anew wave of pressure against the refugees. By creating unbearable living conditions for the Chechen refugees on theterritory of Ingushetia, the government is attempting to force them to“voluntarily” return to Chechnya. Translated by Rebecca Gould
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