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Deadly Blast Mars Chechen Voting Aug.29, 2004 By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer OISKHARA, Russia - Against a backdrop of war and squalor, Chechens voted Sunday for a replacement for their assassinated president in a vote the Kremlin hopes will bring some stability to the violence-torn region. A man was killed when he attempted to blow up a polling station. Russian officials have warned that Chechen rebels might stage attacks to mar the voting — a danger highlighted by the near simultaneous crashes of two jetliners last week that killed 90 people. Traces of explosives were found in the wreckage of both jets, and there are suspicions two Chechen women conducted the suicide attacks. In the Chechen capital Grozny, a man tried to bring a suspicious package to a polling station and when guards at the polling station asked to see it, he ran away. The package blew up and the man was killed, elections commission head Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov said in comments shown on the NTV television channel. No other casualties were reported and the polling station continued to operate, according to NTV. The election is part of the Kremlin's strategy to undermine support for separatist rebels — who have been fighting Russian forces for nearly five years — by inducing a sense of civil order in the ruined southern republic. Acting Chechen president Sergei Abramov said that by midday, more than 30 percent of the electorate had turned out, the level needed to consider the election valid. The Kremlin is backing the region's top police official, Maj. Gen. Alu Alkhanov, making him the unquestioned favorite among the seven candidates for president. When Russian President Vladimir Putin  made a surprise visit to Kadyrov's grave last week, state television showed Alkhanov beside him. Alkhanov is seeking to replace Akhmad Kadyrov, the man who was previously the key to the Kremlin's attempts to add a veneer of political stability to Chechnya (news - web sites). Kadyrov was brought to power in an election last October, but he was killed in a bomb blast in Grozny in May. Fighting and violent crime have continued. The lack of any real opposition to Alkhanov has led human rights group and many Chechens to assume the election result was inevitable, as was last year's election of Kadyrov. Alkhanov appears frequently on television newscasts while the other candidates are rarely, if ever, seen. Officials in the Moscow-backed Chechen government barred Alkhanov's only serious challenger from running. "He's a man of integrity ... I see him on television," said Tashtyela Yarnasa, a 65-year-old pensioner who came to vote at a heavily guarded school in the eastern Chechen town of Oiskhara. "People are sick of the fighting," Yarnasa said. "I'm hoping there won't be any more war." In Urus-Martan, Alkhanov's hometown 20 miles south of Grozny, campaign posters for him were attached to an elections commission banner that urged Chechens to "Vote for peace." Recent weeks indicate that Chechen separatists remain determined in their fight. Earlier this month, 30 people were reported killed in a night of attacks on police stations and patrols in Grozny, the capital. In addition, the elections were shadowed by Tuesday's downing of the two aircraft. Officials say traces of explosives were found in the wreckage of both planes and that they are investigating two Chechen women who were among the passengers — one on each plane. The muted response of Putin's government to these revelations suggests it does not want to mar the election by highlighting any embarrassing security lapse. Government claims that Chechnya is under control have been undermined by persistent rebel strikes. The ITAR-Tass news agency cited election officials as saying more than 10 percent of the eligible voters turned out in the first two hours of voting. However, at the polling station in Oiskhara, officials said only about 25 people had shown up to cast ballots in the first two hours. Guards at the polling station waved metal detectors over each arriving voter and men of uncertain affiliation in camouflage outfits watched from the second floor. Connecticut-sized Chechnya, a mainly Muslim territory in southern Russia, went through a devastating 1994-96 war until Russian forces withdrew, leaving it effectively independent. The Russians swept back into Chechnya in September 1999 after Chechen rebels raided neighboring regions and were blamed for bombings that killed some 300 people at apartment buildings in Russian cities. Stalemated in battle, the Kremlin publicly is aiming its strategy at undermining the rebels through civil means — restoring services, holding elections, promising to compensate returning refugees. Chechnya's more than 1 million residents live in a largely dysfunctional region. Unemployment is near 75 percent. Electricity and telephone service are largely nonexistent. Tens of thousands of people have fled, mostly to neighboring Ingushetia. Hundreds have disappeared in kidnappings blamed on separatist fighters, Russian forces and allied paramilitaries. http://top.rbc.ru/index1.shtml (tr by M.L.) Members of humanitarian organizations fight against the federals in Chechnya In the village of Alkhan-Kala of the Grozny district, the members of the 2nd operational-search bureau GU MVD for the southern federal region (YUFO) detained a worker of the Czech "Chelovek v bede" [Man in need] humanitarian organization - who's suspected of blowing up military armament of the federal forces. As reported to RBC in the press-service of main administration MVD for YUFO, the investigation has proved that on 12 September 2002 this detainee, while being in the composition of some gang [bandgruppa] blew up an Ural motor vehicle of the Tyumen's OMON. On this fact the criminal case on articles 105 (murder) and 205 (terrorism) UK RF have been opened. Let us recall that the work of this Czech humanitarian organization "Chelovek v bede" covers 3 districts of Grozny (Oktryabrsky, Staropremyslovsky, Leninisky). The international humanitarian organization services also the mountain districts of the republic.  The mission Chelovek v bede in the North Caucasus has four permanent representatives. The North-Caucasian headquarters of the mission is located in Nazran. The mission is also known from the event that in February 2003, one of its workers, Ibragim Zyazikov, who was married on a Czech woman and worked in the mission as a security guard was kidnapped in Ingushetia. By the way, the abductee was a relative of president of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov. Since then,  fate of the mission's worker remains unknown. [passage omitted - "elections" are already valid as more than 30% voters participated in it] 29.08.2004 Polls Close in Chechnya; Little Doubt on Winner By C. J. CHIVERS The New York Times, Published: August 29, 2004 GROZNY, Russia, Aug. 29 — Under heavy security and with few voters visible in this hushed capital, the Russian republic of Chechnya held a special election today to select a successor for its assassinated president. Although no winner was declared tonight, all signs pointed to victory for the Kremlin-backed candidate, Maj. Gen. Alu Alkhanov, the republic's interior minister, who had been endorsed by Vladimir V. Putin, Russia's president. Russian news agencies reported that early returns showed a large lead for General Alkhanov. At four polling places that foreign journalists were allowed to visit, always accompanied by Russian soldiers and Chechen guards, not a single voter could be found expressing support for any of the six other candidates. "We voted for Alkhanov," said Hanifa Izayeva, 34, speaking for eight women who were presented by the authorities as voters in the village of Alpatovo. "We hope that he will bring peace." The president-elect will succeed Akhmad Kadyrov, who was elected last fall in a ballot widely regarded as fixed, and killed by a bomb in May. The new president will assume the unenviable task of trying to lead Chechnya, now in its second war since the collapse of the Soviet Union, away from its ingrained violence and political bedlam. Already he has been threatened with death. "It doesn't matter who Putin chooses," Aslan Maskhadov, a former Chechen president turned rebel commander, said in July. "It is only a question of time until a warrior's hand reaches him. God decides everyone's term." The election had been viewed as the Kremlin's chance to restore momentum and legitimacy to its policy of turning over the republic to Chechen proxies. The policy is in disarray. Skirmishes and bombings are an almost daily occurrence in Grozny and the rebel-infested territory in the mountains along the border with Georgia. Since Mr. Kadyrov's death, the rebels have launched several successful raids, including a large-scale operation in neighboring Ingushetia in June that killed nearly 100 people, and another in Grozny on Aug. 21. They are also suspected of downing two civilian airliners last week with bombs, killing 89 people. Although there are hints of progress with reconstruction — a stretch of rutted road running from Grozny to the northern border was recently paved, the massive welcome sign to the city's south has been patched and painted, and new gas stations have appeared — the republic remains in a state of occupied chaos. And while the Kremlin and Chechen officials say the number of rebels is dwindling, such confident statements were belied by the roll-out of security this week. Each polling station had at least 12 soldiers with automatic weapons, and Grozny became a maze of new checkpoints, with Russian armor deployed throughout. Grozny was empty of normal life today, bristling only with men with guns. No major disturbances were reported, although a man with a small bomb blew himself up on the street here after being chased away from a polling station by soldiers assigned to guard it. No one else was injured, according to Vakhid Gabatayev, an ambulance driver who arrived shortly after the blast. At 1 p.m., not long after a burst of small-arms fire erupted perhaps 400 yards from a group of journalists, the Russian officials leading the journalists' tour declared it over, and drove the group to a Russian army base, where they were kept through the night. If Moscow had intended a choreographed display of democracy, it probably would not have been this. Much of what journalists did see — besides neighborhood after neighborhood without a civilian in sight — felt contrived. In the village of Alpatovo, a small crowd waited at the otherwise empty polling place, and as journalists arrived they moved en masse to vote. At least one voter handed his ballot to another man, who put a check mark on the Alkhanov blank. In Grozny, journalists visited the Octyabrasky district, where the election secretary said more than half of the 1,956 registered voters had cast ballots, a rate of that would have meant 180 an hour at that time. But fewer than 10 voters turned up in the 40 minutes journalists waited, and voting lists, required to be signed by each person who received a ballot, were mostly blank — suggesting few people had in fact voted. According to the RIA Novosti news agency, the official republic-wide turnout-rate was more than 79 percent. That number seemed implausible, given the silent streets.) At the village of Savelyevskaya, voters were fewer still. But after a few minutes Russian soldiers arrived with a metal detector to sweep for landmines and a Rottweiler to sniff for explosives. The soldiers led the dog into the polling station, where it ran its nose along the curtains to the booths, then the two cardboard ballot boxes, and at last the flower pots. The workers switched on a cassette, filling the room with Chechen music. Vakha Yunoskanov , a voter, and Maria Magomedova, a pollworker, began to dance, circling each other to the music. They said they were showing their joy. Only minutes before, when asked if anyone in the village would vote for a candidate other than General Alkhanov, Mr. Yunoskanov had said, "No." Ms. Magomedova, the poll worker, quickly corrected him. "There are some," she said brightly but firmly, as Mr. Yunoskanov, sensing a shift of message, nodded in agreement. "We have a democratic, free, honest election," she continued, as he nodded some more.