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Sep.27, 2004 Monday Morning Russia: Ossetians warn of revenge attacks over hostage siege Observers suggest that revenge killings of Chechens may follow the atrocity A leader of Moscow's Ossetian community has warned that the families of the victims of the Beslan school hostage tragedy might take bloody revenge unless the hostage-takers were brought to justice. "In Beslan, I visited several families who lost relatives in the hostage-taking. I told these families: prevent the young people from taking revenge, from murdering yet more innocents", General Kim Tsagolov, a leading member of the Ossetian Community Council in Moscow, told reporters. "This custom [of vendetta or blood feuds] still exists and represents a very great threat" in the Caucasus, said Tsagolov, who formerly served as Russian deputy minister on regional and national policy. "As we bury the victims [of the siege in Beslan, North Ossetia], we must block all attempts to go down that road. "It is vital for the authorities to quickly find and judge those responsible for this terrorist act. Unless they do so, it is very likely that certain families will go looking for them on their own", added Ashot Ayrapetian, director of the Center for Inter-Ethnic Cooperation in Moscow. On September 3, Chechen separatist rebels claimed responsibility for the school siege in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia, in which at least 339 people were killed, nearly half of them children. According to the claim, the hostage-takers comprised 14 Chechens, nine Ingush, two Arabs, two Ossetians and six other Russians. The mainly-Muslim republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia both border North Ossetia, whose population is mainly Christian. Several families bereaved in the tragedy have warned that they would consider seeking revenge at the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period. In a related development, a leading human rights activist poured scorn over Russian President Vladimir Putin's hard-line policy in breakaway Chechnya and urged him to negotiate with Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen separatist leader. "We need a fresh look on Chechen politics and on the use of negotiation. Cleansing operations alone will not solve the situation", argued Alexander Brod, who heads the Moscow office for Human Rights, said in reference to military sweeps in Chechnya. Sergei Arutyunov, a top Caucasus specialist at Russia's Academy of Science, also blamed Putin for his staunch refusal to sit down for talks with Maskhadov, including during the Beslan hostage crisis. "Negotiations with Maskhadov would have undermined the position of Basayev", he told reporters in Moscow. Basayev, a Chechen warlord, has claimed responsibility for the Beslan siege. Arutyunov added that many children could have been saved if Maskhadov had been asked to negotiate with the hostage-takers, who were demanding Chechnya's independence. The former Chechen president, whose influence in the separatist movement has been diminished by more radical elements, had offered to help mediate an end to the hostage siege. Beslan negotiator warns on ethnic hatred in Russia 28 Sep 2004 15:33:43 GMT By Oliver Bullough MOSCOW, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The grief felt by relatives of those who died in an attack on the Russian town of Beslan could explode into violence against ethnic neighbours when mourning ends, a negotiator at the siege said on Tuesday. "The situation is balanced between war and peace," said Ruslan Aushev, ex-president of Ingushetia, which borders the North Ossetia region where the attack on a school occurred. Aushev walked alone into the school held by Chechen and Ingush militants on the second day of the siege nearly a month ago. He persuaded them to free 25 people, mostly infants. On the next day, Russian forces stormed the school in an operation that collapsed into chaos. More than 320 people died, half of them children. Most were Ossetians who already had tense relations with the neighbouring Ingush. "I have received information that shows there is a force in North Ossetia which says when the 40 days (of mourning) is up, we must deal with the Ingush," he told a packed hall of reporters in his first public appearance since the crisis. "If these hotheads go to settle accounts with the Ingush it will ignite Ossetia and Ingushetia and all the neighbouring regions. Ossetians are largely Christian while the Ingush, like the Chechens, are mostly Muslim. Chechen rebels have been pressing for independence from Moscow for the past 10 years and the Beslan assault was part of a recent surge of attacks. Ingushetia: Doctors Employed by International Medical Corps Wrongly and Repeatedly Exposed as Suspected Terrorists Vienna, 27 September 2004. The IHF is deeply concerned with the repeated exposure of fourteen medical doctors  mistakenly labeled as terrorist suspects on Ministry of Interior / FSB leaflets and internet sites in the Russian Federation. After the Ministry of Interior apologized for the publication of leaflets in the spring of this year (but without offering any compensation), the leaflet reappeared slightly modified on 9 September 2004, a week after the Beslan hostage tragedy. It includes the names and photos of the same medical doctors, all of whom reside in Ingushetia and work for the International Medical Corps (IMC), a prominent international organization with its headquarters in Los Angeles, USA. The leaflet appeared in the news column of the popular web resource www.rambler.ru , and now shows pictures of 17 women, who are said to be wanted by the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs on suspicion of their involvement in terrorist activities on the territory of the Russian Federation. It was also published on at least two other popular webpages and in the North-Ossetian newspaper Slovo Nahis . Together with the fourteen medical doctors, the leaflet displays the names and photos of three women who are suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks, two of whom have already been arrested. Below is the English translation of the said leaflet as featured at www.rambler.ru Attention! These women are wanted on suspicion of their involvement in terrorist activities in the territory of the Russian Federation. On suspicion of their involvement in terrorist activities in the territory of the Russian Federation, the following persons are wanted by the law-enforcement agencies: If you have any information on their whereabouts or have seen either of them, do not undertake any independent actions but call the hotline of the joint operative headquarters of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation at (0195) 914-2222 to report this. You can also call the police station nearest to you. (Photographs and names of the suspects) The document appeared for the first time in the aftermath of the 6 February 2004 bomb attack on the Moscow metro. It was displayed in a number of public places in Moscow, featuring names and photos of the fourteen women claiming that they were wanted by the police and were planning a terrorist attack similar to the 6 February one. During a mission in Ingushetia and Chechnya in September, one of the fourteen women met by mission members gave the following testimony to the IHF: In that leaflet, they actually used the pictures that we had submitted to the IMC along with our job applications. For the IMC files, our pictures with our names spelled out in English and our hiring dates were saved on a computer disk and forwarded to the Moscow office of our employer-organization. In the “wanted” leaflet, everything is printed exactly like it was in that particular file. It says under each photograph: Doctor (NAME) and the relevant date. The only exception was the photo of Mrs. Uzhakhoeva under which it was also written in Russian that she was the first wife of Shamil Basaev (In fact Mrs Uzhakhoeva is married and has five children). The Ingush Deputy of the Russian Federation State Duma, B. Kodzoev addressed an inquiry  to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, V. Ustinov, transmitting the reports of the women “that their pictures were put up in Moscow along with “wanted” signs in connection with their alleged involvement in terrorist organizations”, and that “such leaflets could be seen at police stations, at the operative search unit of the Moscow Police Department, at several metro stations, at the Sheremetyevo-1 and Sheremetyevo-2 airports, and in the supermarket ‘Stolitsa’ located in the South of Moscow”. Mr Kodzoev further requested to inform him on which grounds the women were wanted by police. He expressed his concern that their rights were violated by law-enforcement officials. The answer to his request indicates that “the information on the alleged participation of the aforementioned women in acts of sabotage and terrorism, as well as their color photos, was sent to the Center ‘T’ under the GUBOP SKM Department of the Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs by the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia. From thereon, the pictures were sent to the Moscow City Police Department to be used in the operative-search activities of anti-terrorist nature.” It concludes by assuring that “at the present time, all units of the Moscow City Police Department were ordered to destroy the photographs of the aforesaid persons.” After an extensive exchange of letters by different state bodies the “misunderstanding” finally appeared to be corrected, and it was officially stated that all the necessary measures were taken to void the pictures from public domain. The Ombudsman of the Russian Federation V. Lukin could inform the Chair of the People’s Assembly of Ingushetia, M. Sakalov, that “at the moment, an internal investigation into the issue is being conducted by the Moscow City Prosecutor’s Office”, and that “V. Pronin, Police Lieutenant-General and Head of the Chief Department of the Internal Affairs in the City of Moscow, sent his regrets to the doctors of the International Medical Corps.” Law-enforcement agencies claimed that the list of women and their photographs were found in an illegal weapon storage belonging to Kh. Tazabaev, head of a terrorist group that actively used suicide bombers. This official version does not sound very convincing, but even if it would be true, it would very negligent to publish the leaflets without running at least a preliminary check on the identities of the given women by contacting the relevant registration authorities of Ingushetia and Chechnya. With the addresses and professions of all the women the authorities could have easily and fast found out that they are all peaceful citizens of Ingushetia and Chechnya. When the old leaflet reappeared now with the revisions described above, the fourteen female doctors were quite frightened by this development and actually called the number given in the leaflet, indicating that they were the very individuals wanted by the joint operative headquarters of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. The response they got was to call back in one week. And when the women then went to the Ingushetia FSB in the town of Magas, the security guard did not let them into the building but emphasized nevertheless that if they had not been guilty they would not have been wanted either. The IHF is seriously concerned with the repeated exposure as suspected terrorists of the fourteen doctors on staff of the prominent humanitarian organization International Medical Corps. Regrettably, it appears that the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation handled personal data irresponsibly. We urge the Russian Government to take immediate measures to protect the private lives of the 14 doctors and ensure that the repeated violation of their rights is effectively remedied. For further information: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Aaron Rhodes, Eliza Moussaeva, Joachim Frank, +43-1-4088822 Moscow Helsinki Group, Tanya Lokshina, +7-916 624 1906 (mobile) __________________________________________ Joachim Frank, Project Coordinator International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Wickenburggasse 14/7 A-1080 Vienna Tel. +43-1-408 88 22 ext. 22 Fax: +43-1-408 88 22 ext. 50 Web: http://www.ihf-hr.org ______________________________________ AFP Influx of Chechen refugees to Poland after hostage crisis slows 28 September 2004 A sudden influx of Chechen refugees to Poland after the Beslan school hostage crisis in Russia has slowed back to its normal rate, Polish Interior Minister Ryszard Kalisz said Tuesday. "The rush has come to a halt, and we are back to the previous rate of 20 to 30 people a day," the minister told journalists. Over the past fortnight, hundreds of Chechens a day were arriving at Poland's borders on the eastern edge of the European Union asking for political asylum, most travelling overland through the neighbouring ex-Soviet republic of Belarus. Kalisz had sounded the alarm, announcing that Warsaw would ask for financial assistance to cope with the refugees from the EU, which Poland joined on May 1. "For the moment, we have enough funds, but I cannot exclude that in the future we will appeal for outside help because this is a problem that concerns the EU as a whole," he said. Last year, more than 80 percent of asylum seekers in Poland came from Russia's war-torn breakaway Chechen republic, representing 5,600 out of 6,900 cases, according to the Polish office for refugees. Poland, a neighbour of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, "has the longest land border in the EU" and would like to have a new European border agency operating on its territory, the minister said. Other ex-Communist Eastern European countries which also joined the EU in May, Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia, would also like more EU border assistance, he added. Frontier controls and the fight against organised crime are due to be discussed during an informal meeting of the 25 EU interior ministers on Thursday at the Hague. Kalisz announced that he would visit Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on October 4 to 5 to discuss bilateral cooperation with the three Baltic states, new EU members which also have long EU borders to protect. North Caucasus: Growing Instability Keeps Aid Out Of Chechnya By Ahto Lobjakas Chechnya has obvious humanitarian needs, and the international community -- led by the European Union and the United Nations -- has made available significant funds to meet them. However, growing instability in the region and fears for aid workers' physical safety are instead pushing support efforts further afield. RFE/RL spoke today with Philippe Royan, the head of the EU's humanitarian aid office in Moscow, who said the recent return of most refugees to Chechnya has made it harder for aid to reach them. Brussels, 30 September (RFE/RL) -- The EU has spent years lobbying Moscow to ease access for aid workers to Chechnya. But Philippe Royan said today there have been few results. Furthermore, he added, what little progress had been achieved has now been eroded by growing instability in the North Caucasus. Chechnya and its environs are becoming an increasingly dangerous place for foreigners. Permits to enter Chechnya remain fairly easy to get. Travel within Chechnya is also relatively free. The trouble, Royan said, is that foreign aid workers do not want to risk it. This problem is not only confined to Chechnya. Royan said foreign aid workers feel at risk in Ingushetia and North Ossetia, too. He said a June raid by suspected Chechen separatists in Ingushetia is forcing international aid organizations to consider moving their offices farther afield: "In June, the UN were considering withdrawing from Nazran [in Ingushetia] back to [the North Ossetian capital] Vladikavkaz [out of fear] that on the night of 21-22 June, when the rebels retreated -- if they had wanted, if they had planned to pass through houses where expatriates were staying -- they could have taken along a number of hostages, and probably nothing could have stopped them." The Russian branch of the EU's humanitarian aid arm ECHO -- which also assists Moldova and the South Caucasus -- is currently based in Moscow. Royan said the organization would like to be closer to Chechnya. The EU is the biggest single donor in the republic, disbursing 26.5 million euros ($32.6 million) in 2004. The funds are spent through UN and other aid agencies. But Royan said that after the hostage drama in Beslan, even Vladikavkaz would not be a safe base. He said the question now is not about looking for the best place, but the place that is the "least dangerous": "In the plans for 2005, we were expecting the United Nations to take a position, a decision: 'Do we open -- yes or no -- a UN representation office in Grozny? Do we have -- yes or no -- a UNHCR (eds: UN High Commissioner for Refugees) protection team in Grozny?' [A positive decision would have pleased] Russian authorities, [who have been] asking for it for years now," Royan said. Such a possibility, however, appears increasingly remote. Royan said this will displease Russia, which argues the situation in Chechnya is normalizing and that aid agencies have no reason to operate out of Ingushetia or North Ossetia. He added that Moscow never granted ECHO permission to open an office in Ingushetia, precisely because they wanted all aid offices to base themselves in Grozny. He said Russia appears to want the international aid community to act as "messengers" that the worst of Russia's conflict in the republic is finished. They say the Chechen fight for independence is over and the only remaining problem is international terrorism. The European Commission, however, will not authorize a move to Grozny. Royan said the security situation in the region is worsening and the conflicts are becoming more and more difficult to understand. It is also getting harder, he added, to know where the threat is coming from. It's a situation, he said, that presents aid agencies with a dilemma: "So on the one hand there was a discussion about 'Should we go closer to the beneficiaries [by] opening a representation office in Grozny,' and on the other hand [we debated] 'Is it still safe enough to stay in Nazran, shouldn't we get a bit farther [away] and keep some distance from the Chechen republic?'" Meanwhile, Royan said, the aid effort is becoming a "remote-controlled operation" for foreigners. Needs assessments -- necessary to allocate funds -- are being done from a distance. The results are questionable, and frustrating for ECHO, which is forced to stay in Moscow. Royan said the case of the kidnapped Dutch aid worker Arjan Erkel is a good case in point. Erkel, who worked for the French group Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiers [MSF]), was kidnapped in Daghestan and held for 20 months until a ransom of 1 million euros was paid. Royan said Western aid workers increasingly fear being targeted by hostage takers: "Everybody, basically, is aware in the Caucasus that an MSF worker is worth at least 1 million euros -- that's what was paid after 20 months. So you can imagine that an MSF expatriate is a bit, not reluctant, but not... Some would say that the situation is more difficult today than when Arjan was still detained." Royan said another recent concern is that aid workers could become the victims of indiscriminate killings by forces who want to keep foreigners out of Chechnya. He stressed that aid money for Chechnya is not a problem -- there is no evidence of "donor fatigue." The problem is security. Ironically, this means that the tens of thousands of Chechen refugees who have in recent months been forced to return from their camps in Ingushetia and Dagestan end up even worse off. "It is the same problem we had from the start of the last Chechen conflict," Royan said. "There are a lot of things to do, there are a lot of things we could do, we just don't have the partners to do it because they don't have access possibilities for monitoring and needs assessment. It's the same problem. And now, when a good part of the beneficiaries have moved from Ingushetia back to Chechnya -- even from Daghestan -- the problem becomes bigger, because the more beneficiaries we have in Chechnya, the more difficult it is to help them." Royan said aid agencies and other international organizations could start large-scale reconstruction work in Chechnya virtually overnight -- but only if the security situation permitted it. Thursday, September 30, 2004 Another journalist from St. Petersburg was killed this week, the second so far this year. The first was Maxim Maximov, who officially went missing in the end of June. He is presumed dead because there have been no signs that he is alive for three months. The second, Yan Travinsky, was shot Monday morning in Irkutsk while acting as a consultant to Rodina in its campaign for seats in the Irkutsk Legislative Assembly. Travinsky was probably just out to earn some money to feed himself. Many journalists take on consulting work due to the sorry state of media in the regions. Far from informing people, many outlets have become tools for crude propaganda, offering neither moral nor financial incentives for reporters. An election campaign in Russia involves huge amounts of cash. The one in Irkutsk is no exception. A police search of the apartment of Maria Marakhovskaya, the head of Rodina's regional election headquarters who was assassinated together with Travinsky, revealed receipts for campaign donations totaling $428,000, according to the Agency of Journalistic Investigations. This sum is more than three times the legal limit for financing a campaign, which is set by the federal election law at 5 million rubles ($171,200). But money is not the issue. This is about the life of a journalist who did not kill or threaten anyone. He was writing leaflets and press releases. How disturbing it is that 13 years after the country was declared a democracy, journalists are still being killed during election campaigns? Four journalists have been murdered in Russia this year, including Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes magazine's Russian edition, and Adlan Khasanov, a Reuters correspondent who died May 9 in a bomb explosion in a stadium in Grozny. These names have been added to the list of 30 journalists killed in Russia since 1994, according to the International Committee to Protect Journalists. The figure is comparable to Algeria's, where 31 reporters have been killed in the same period. The sorry statistics reflect the sorry state of the treatment of professional journalists in this country. While in the United States journalists are welcomed with respect, in Russia the public and the authorities blame them for all the sins committed by officials. It looks as if self-examination is out of favor in Russia. Of course, this is not a recent development -- just watch Gogol's famous play "The Government Inspector." I am sure that many of those who regularly watch state-controlled Channel One television shrugged their shoulders and said, "There's another one who got what he deserved," when they heard the news from Irkutsk. I have heard such phrases frequently when other journalists were killed. It is unbelievably frustrating, but that is the inevitable reaction from people who have been brainwashed by the government. Maybe, for this particular reason, we shouldn't pay too much attention to their reaction. But this attitude seems to be getting worse every month. With each terrorist attack, the authorities put more pressure on the media, prevent journalists from showing and reporting the truth about their country, and try to make people get used to fairy tales. I didn't know Travinsky, although I saw him almost every Wednesday at St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly meetings, and at press conferences and briefings. His was a familiar face among journalists writing on politics in this city. He would still be alive if elections had not become a dirty business with no rules where competitors are ready to use all possible methods to gain money or influence. The immediate causes behind Travinsky's murder are still unknown. But the lessons are clear. Guns and poison are still the most popular tools for deciding who is right and who is wrong in Russia. And journalists who get in the way die. Vladimir Kovalyev is a Staff Writer with the St. Petersburg Times. http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/09/30/007.html Russian Court Approves Arrest of Suspected Killers of U.S. Editor Klebnikov Created: 30.09.2004 14:21 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:31 MSK, MosNews Court in Moscow sanctioned the arrest of two Chechen residents suspected of involvement in the murder of Russian journalist Paul Klebnikov. The editor-in-chief of the Russian Forbes magazine was killed on July 9, 2004 as he was leaving his office building in Moscow. He died in an ambulance en route to the hospital. On September 28, Moscow police chief said two Chechens were detained in connection with this incident. Aslan Sagayev and Kazbek Elmurzayev are officially suspected of kidnapping of banker Akhmed-Pashi Aliyev and illegal storage of fire arms. The investigators are verifying their involvement in Klebnikov's killing. However, the head of Moscow police, Vladimir Pronin, said the Chechens were suspected of this murder and this crime is almost solved. One of the three guns seized from the Chechens could be a weapon used to kill the journalist. Police also found an August issue of Forbes at their apartment. Sagayev and Elmurzayev were businessmen, Vremya Novostei newspaper wrote on Thursday. They moved to Moscow from Chechnya in 1999. Banker Aliyev was their acquaintance from Dagestan. Police detained Sagayev and Elmurzayev when they were discussing a joint project with Aliyev. Earlier, Sagayev had freed Aliyev taken hostage by unidentified persons. Aliyev lived at Sagayev's, being afraid of walking out. When police burst into Sagayev's flat and asked, "Who is the hostage?" Aliyev answered it was him, the paper wrote. Chechens quoted by the paper said they have never seen the guns seized by the police. The Chechens' friends quoted by the paper think they were framed. Kommersant newspaper wrote on Thursday that the Chechens' lawyers had to explain them who Klebnikov was. Sagayev and Elmurzayev are arrested for ten days. During this period, they are to face the charges or to be released. Ukraine Fears EU Proposal for Chechen Refugee Camp on Its Territory Created: 30.09.2004 16:30 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:31 MSK, Ukraine expressed concern on Thursday about media reports that the European Union wants to set up camps for would-be migrants —- notably people from Chechnya —- on its territory, the Reuters news agency reports. EU interior and justice ministers were due to discuss proposals on Wednesday and Thursday for immigration "gateways" -- reception centers in countries beyond EU borders to process and repatriate those who do not meet immigration requirements. Ukraine is particularly upset about various media reports saying that Britain, Austria and the Baltic states have proposed setting up such a centre —- the EU rejects the word "camp" -- in Ukraine to head off a growing stream of Chechens fleeing Russia. The Foreign Ministry in Kiev said it was "genuinely surprised" at the reports. "Ukraine has not received any official proposals from EU countries on the matter. Any public discussions of the issue are improper and without preliminary official consultations with the Ukrainian government," it said in a statement. Poland, which joined the EU in May, says the number of Chechen refugees seeking asylum there has doubled to about 20 per day since the Beslan school tragedy, when more than 330 people were killed in a hostage-taking by Chechen separatists. Many of them come through Ukraine, which has a porous border with Russia to the east. Russian citizens do not need visas to enter Ukraine. Ukrainian media say dozens of migrants from farther east, mainly China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, are detained near the EU border almost daily.