Russian military hits back at pro-Moscow Chechen leader over kidnap claims

MOSCOW (AFP) Aug 29, 2003

A senior Russian military officer Friday branded as a pre-electoral gimmick accusations by the pro-Moscow Chechen chief administrator Akhmad Kadyrov of abuses by federal troops in the breakaway republic. "Kadyrov's clear allusions to kidnappings at night by federal troops, driving around in armoured personnel carriers, has more to do with pre-electoral politicking than reality," Vladimir Plotnikov, who commands a paratrooper unit in Chechnya, told the Interfax news agency.

Kadyrov, a former mufti who has ruled the troubled republic for more than three years as head of the pro-Russian administration, is officially the favourite to win an October 5 presidential poll organised by the Kremlin.

But he is hugely unpopular in Chechnya, where the war-weary population believe he is a corrupt figure who has done nothing to end the violence.

Asserting that federal troops are only authorised to move around Chechnya in the day, Plotnikov said that only Chechen policemen under military command are supposed to circulate at night.

"In every military command post, there is a unit of Chechen police. Most wear Russian military uniforms. It's among them that you should be looking for 'renegade soldiers.'"

In a letter to top military commanders Wednesday, Kadyrov complained that three people were kidnapped in August by Russian military in the southeastern village of Mekhketi and called for action to stop disappearances.

(snip)