[Report by Kseniya Solyanskaya: "Suicide Bombers Being Weaned Away From Blowing
Themselves Up" -- Internet Version-WWW]
According to unconfirmed information (*), the relatives of a woman believed to
be one of the suicide bombers who blew themselves up next to Akhmad Kadyrov have
been killed. Meanwhile, Shamil Basayev is promising to send his new suicide bombers
into Russian towns and Anna Politkovskaya is preparing a report on Chechen suicide
bombers that she will present at a session of NATO.
Four relatives of Shakhidat Baymuradova, who is believed to be one of the suicide
bombers who blew themselves up next to republic chief Akhmad Kadyrov in the village
of Ilaskhan-Yurt, were killed a few days ago. People in camouflage uniform and
masks burst in at night and shot everyone in the house at point-blank range. This
was reported today [24 May] by Ekho Moskvy radio, citing Chechen separatists'
websites. It has not been followed by any official comment on the matter. There
are enough facts to check, though. The Chechen press release contains the names
of the dead, their age, and the local authorities' assessment. It does not, however,
seem to be possible to call through to the village of Bachi-Yurt mentioned in
the report.
Another website quotes Shamil Basayev saying that Baymuradova was not a suicide
bomber and simply wanted to petition Kadyrov about her son, who disappeared during
a purge.
The fact that the federal forces arrested Baymuradova's son last week was confirmed
by Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Movsar Barayev. At the same time, he hinted that
the number of suicide bombers is diminishing because of the purges. Basayev claims
he only sent one woman to the festival organized by United Russia in Ilaskhan-Yurt,
calculating that her martyr's belt would be enough to kill Kadyrov. The Prosecutor's
Office, however, is still claiming that there were four terrorist women, including
Baymuradova. They are unable, however, to explain why two women, one of whom was
wearing the explosives, did not have any documents but 46-year-old Baymuradova
had not only a passport but also her disabled certificate (the second passport
was in the name of 52-year-old Zulay Abdulzakova). In
addition to this, in the shots Chechen television cameramen took during the explosion
and later showed on central channels we can see that the two petitioners are walking
separately from the suicide bombers. It is not clear why Baymuradova's relatives
needed to be killed after that.
On their websites, the gunmen naturally claim that it was the federals' handiwork.
But even if we allow the thought that a death squadron exists, there is no motive
to kill Baymuradova's relatives. It was Chechens who had gathered at United Russia's
religious festival and they themselves were seeing to security -- the federals
simply have no one to avenge. Twenty-six people died as the result of the terrorist
act, including four staff of Akhmad Kadyrov's guard.
If the report about the relatives having been killed is confirmed, it is these
guards who will fall under suspicion.
Especially as the Chechens loyal to Moscow have never hidden the fact that they
are prepared to use the methods of blood feud in just the same way as Basayev's
people. And nothing has happened to them because of these moments of frankness.
In particular, Groznyy OMON [Special-Purpose Police Detachment] Commander Musa
Gazimagomadov declared his wish to kill without trial or investigation after the
gunmen blew up a bus of his comrades. For Russian journalists, he
popularly explained that blood feud means killing not the enemy himself but his
closest relatives. "The best of their kin," Gazimagomadov said. We do not know
if he managed to put his thought into practice. The OMON soldier was recently
killed in a car crash that the gunmen called their subversive act.
People in Kadyrov's security service are well acquainted with the principles of
blood feud too. Gazeta.Ru has often had occasion to write about this service recently.
It is headed by the republic head's son, Ramzan Kadyrov. Four thousand of Kadyrov's
men operate on an equal footing with Chechnya's 10,000 police officers, set ambushes
for gunmen, and conduct special operations after which the gunmen are forced to
lay down their weapons next to Kadyrov's house in Tsentoroy. No one is any longer
surprised by the fact that there are officials from Kadyrov's guard in every village
and that they are unofficially overseen by the FSB [Federal Security Service].
After surrendering their weapons, the gunmen enter into Kadyrov's service because
they are unable to do anything apart from fight. Besides, it
is the only way to protect themselves and their relatives from the vengeance of
their former combat comrades. It does not save everyone, though. The bodies of
five residents of the village of Vernkhiy Naur who had recently been employed
in the Chechen leader's guard were found cut into pieces in the outskirts of the
village this week.
The first person to talk about Ramzan Kadyrov's guard was the journalist Anna
Politkovskaya early this year.
Chechens had complained to her about the savagery of Kadyrov's men and said that
they even had their own prison. Politkovskaya will now tell all this to NATO headquarters.
She will read a report on the situation in Chechnya at the NATO parliamentary
assembly on 26 May. Politkovskaya's invitation threatens a major scandal because
it will be the first session to which a Russian delegation has been invited. The
journalist has already said that she will talk about the "Palestinization" of
the Chechen conflict (that is to say the practice of using suicide bombers). After
the terrorist acts in Znamenskoye and Iliskhan-Yurt, the Chechen police leadership
have said that over 30 martyrs had been trained in Basayev's forest camps and
ever newer statements are appearing on the Internet in the name of Shamil Basayev
in which the
terrorist threatens new kamikaze attacks. We would remind you that the terrorist
denies Baymuradova's involvement in the assassination attempt on Kadyrov and claims
that the new terrorist acts will no longer be committed on the territory of Chechnya
but in the Russian towns from where police officers come on assignments to Chechnya.
Basayev's letter also contains initiatives such as an appeal in the name of his
Riyadus Salikhin brigade of Chechen martyrs to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
proposing that an interim authority be introduced in Russia.