"Death Squadrons" expand the sphere of their activity in Chechnya

No, it does not mean that they have abandoned their, so to say, "specialization" - capturing and kidnapping of the civilians in Chechnya. The situation is the same as before - the conveyer of kidnapping and killing is working incessantly.

As reported by "Gazeta.Ru" referring to a Mr.Selimov, the representative of the pro-Moscow Chechen district administration, five people were captured by the criminals on the territory between the villages Ersenoy and Pervomaiskoye for the past weekend. Among them were Zalpa Nasukhanova, Head of the Ersenoy pro-Moscow Administration, her sister, two guards and Hamada Musanipova, Head of the Communications Department of the village Agishbata.

Everything is clear. The car was stopped and all the passengers were kidnapped. But it became known that not only the passengers, but also a lot of money was in the car. Three hundred thousand Russian roubles, making up about 10 thousand USD. The Russian "squadron" men, according to the information of "Gazeta.Ru", seized the money.

To tell the truth, the Russian journalists preferred to use a neutral word "criminals", and not to mention the squadrons of death in the given context. It is entirely possible they doubt that the robbers belong to the Russian occupation grouping. The money should have been spent for paying the pensions, and quite possibly, among the pensioners could be hundreds of Chechens too, who needed the money to ransom their captured fellow countrymen. Or to redeem the remains of the earlier captured local residents. There are many ways of spending money in Chechnya today. For instance, if anyone wants to visit a relative in the neighbour district, he has to pay at every checkpoint on the way…

So, if our colleagues still doubt, let them have it on their conscience. But they should not forget that neither Chechen, nor Russian and international law-enforcement bodies have reported about the raids on the part of the Chechen fighters. Neither have ever been any acts of marauding or kidnapping of the civilians committed by the Chechen fighters. Though, it should be noted that those national-traitors whose participation in tortures and retaliator operations is proved, make an exception. Those who are aware of the Chechen mentality, know that the Chechen fighters could not have robbed the old people. It is a sacrilege for the Chechens. As to the Russian ways, they are quite different. Not long ago it was shown on Russian TV that a Russian man killed old people one after the other in a remote Russian village to get their scanty pensions. He got rid of them for 1000 roubles, or sometimes for 200 roubles only. I don't know if he served in the Death Squadrons in Chechnya, but in Russian Army he served, there is no doubt.

Nemirovich, Chechenpress.

Tuesday, 27 May 2003