Determination Pursuant to Section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224 Relating
to the Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen
Martyrs, the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment, and the Islamic International
Brigade
Acting under the authority of section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224 of September
23, 2001, as amended by Executive Order 13286 of July 2, 2002, and Executive
Order 13284 of January 23, 2003, and in consultation with the Secretary
of the Treasury, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security,
I hereby determine that:
1. The Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen
Martyrs (a.k.a. Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion,
a.k.a. Riyadh-as-Saliheen, a.k.a. the Sabotage and Military Surveillance
Group of the Riyadh al-Salihin Martyrs, a.k.a. Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance
and Sabotage Battalion of Shahids (Martyrs));
2. The Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (a.k.a. the Islamic Special Purpose
Regiment, a.k.a. the al-Jihad-Fisi-Sabililah Special Islamic Regiment, Islamic
Regiment of Special Meaning); and
3. The Islamic International Brigade (a.k.a. the Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade,
a.k.a. the Islamic Peacekeeping Army, a.k.a. the International Brigade, a.k.a.
Peacekeeping Battalion, a.k.a. International Battalion, a.k.a. Islamic Peacekeeping
International Brigade), have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing,
acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national
security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.
Consistent with the determination in section 10 of Executive Order 13224 that
``prior notice to persons determined to be subject to the Order who might
have a constitutional presence in the United States would render ineffectual
the blocking and other measures authorized in the Order because of the ability
to transfer funds instantaneously,'' I determine that no prior notice need
be provided to any person subject to this determination who might have a
constitutional presence in the United States because to do so would render
ineffectual the measures authorized in the Order.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register.
Dated: February 14, 2003.
Colin L. Powell,
Secretary of State, Department of State.
Zakayev on the US list of Chechen terrorist organizations: "The list is incomplete".
Grani.ru/CP: Ahmed Zakayev: The list of terrorist organizations is incomplete
Statement by Deputy Premier of the ChRI Government A. Zakayev in connection
with the addition of the groups "Shaheed Brigade Riyadus Salikhin", "Islamic Special
Purpose Regiment" and "International Islamic Brigade" to the US list of
terrorist organizations.
As Representative of the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, I am authorized
to declare the following in connection with today's statement of the US State
Department: The US State Department has declared several Chechen organizations
to be terrorist. I confirm that such marginal groups appear as a result
of the
cruel punitive acts by the Russian military on the territory of Chechnya. At the
same time, we assert that the absolute majority of the Chechen Resistance is subordinated
to President Maskhadov and has no connection with terrorist activities. The Government
of the ChRI declares once again: We have nothing to do with terrorist acts against
the civilian population, in particular, with the recent seizure of hostages in
the Moscow theatre in October 2002 and the explosion of the so-called House of
Government in Grozny in December 2002. We condemn all forms of terror, whoever
commits it.We hope that the publication by the State Department will put an end
to the campaign of slander and disinformation, incited by Moscow and intended
to libel the legal government of the Chechen Republic and the entire Chechen people.
The mentioned list published today is undoubtedly incomplete. We regret that it
doesn't include the main terrorist force acting in Chechnya - the Russian occupation
power. On its conscience are thousands of innocent victims, both Chechens and
Russians. The terrorist activity of the Federal forces has increased in recent
days, in connection with the preparation for the so-called referendum. Murders
and disappearances of civilian citizens have increased in frequency. Punitive
units and secret "death squads" are active all over Chechnya; it's their purpose
to terrorize the civilian population in order to force it to submit to the aggression.
The Russian terror isn't restricted to Chechnya. The Federal Security Service
[FSB] of the Russian Federation is responsible for the explosion of the apartment
houses in Moscow in September 1999. There is a number of questions to the Russian
power structures concerning the terrorist act in the Moscow theatre in October
2002. The Chechens know from bitter experience that violence generates violence
and terror entails terror. Facing Russian state terrorism, our government, unfortunately,
cannot always keep control with irresponsible and desperate actions by victims
of the Russian terror and criminal elements created by the Russian secret services.
However, the escalation of violence in Chechnya is in an overwhelming grade the
result of dual standards applied by the civilized countries, which allow the killers
and war criminals, as well as their inspirators, into their coalition. Evil cannot
stand against evil. We issue a call to the Western countries to use their entire
influence in order to force Russia to solve the problem of Chechnya by political
instead of military methods.
Grani.Ru, 28.02.2003
http://www.chechenpress.com/news/03_2003/6_01_03.shtml
[Translation by Norbert Strade]
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 01, 2003
As Kavkaz-Tsentr commentators assumed, the US State Department did not dance
to the Kremlin's tune and did not include nonexistent Chechen organizations
on its so-called "terrorist list" in order to avoid confusion and not to
discredit itself. The US State Department publicized its list describing
as "terrorist" three armed structures which Washington thinks are maintaining
hostilities on the territory of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against
the Russian occupation troops "by terrorist methods".
The American list mentions the following armed structures - the Riyadus-Saliheyn
Martyrs' Brigade, the International Islamic Brigade and the Islamic Special
Purpose Detachment. A spokesman for the US State Department announced that
the accounts of these "organizations" would be frozen and their members
would be banned from entering the United States.
Richard Boucher, press secretary of the State Department, said that all
these structures were related to the Nord-Ost events [hostage- taking in a theatre
in Moscow] in October last year. State Secretary Colin Powell stated that
these armed structures, which for some reason have been described as "organizations"
in the interpretation of American officials, "pose a considerable threat
of terrorist acts that might threaten the national security, interests,
foreign policy and economy of the USA".
However, in spite of the caution of the Americans who have been procrastinating
the publication of the names of these structures, there is still some confusion
even ifwe exclude the ridiculous passage about the freezing of "the accounts
of these Chechen organizations in American banks".
At least two of the armed structures mentioned in the US State Department list
- the International Islamic Brigade and the Islamic Special Purpose Detachment
- do not exist and have never existed.
Ostensibly, sensing a dirty trick and obviously distrusting the "intelligence
information of the Russian side", which the Kremlin forwarded to the Americans,
Colin Powell insured himself beforehand, stating on 27 February, before
publicizing the State Department's "black list", that "it was necessary
to take into account that such organizations often change their names".
At the same time, taking into account that the US State Department is unambiguously
pointing to the fact that the structures mentioned on the list are directly
related to the seizure of the theatre centre in Moscow, we can suppose that
by saying "Islamic Special Purpose Detachment", the US State Department
meant a unit which was previously led by Movsar Barayev - the Islamic Special
Purpose Regiment (ISPR).
As for the so-called International Islamic Brigade, the talk is most likely about
the International Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade. Amir Khattab used to be its military
amir and Shamil Basayev was in charge of it in general.
But in this case, if our assumptions are still correct and the Americans
substantiate their decision with the low quality information of the Russian
intelligence services, the crux of the issue does not change.
The International Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade was reorganized last summer
in connection with the formation of the State Defence Committee - Majlis
ul-Shura. Its individual units joined the eastern front of the regular troops
of the armed forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The eastern front is
led by Amir Abu-Valid. Moreover, Shamil Basayev gave up the remaining formal
authorities of the general command of these units immediately after the
Nord-Ost events. The military amir of the brigade, Khattab, as is known,
died in March last year.
Movsar Barayev left the command of his regiment after he took charge of
the sabotage detachment of martyrs who arrived in Moscow intending to die,
not to return home. The Islamic Special Purpose Regiment itself was also
reorganized in connection with the general reorganization of the whole structure
of the armed forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria within the framework
of the newly- created State Defence Committee - Majlis ul-Shura and its individual
units joined three different fronts of the Chechen troops (including the
eastern front) controlled by the Military Committee of the State Defence
Committee - Majlis ul-Shura of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and [Chechen
rebel] President Aslan Maskhadov.
Thus, as a fighting unit, only one armed structure of the Chechen Resistance
really exists and operates - the Riyadus-Saliheyn Martyrs' Brigade. But
the whole piquancy of the situation is that this structure is not on the
Russian terrorist list. For some reason, the Russians did not include it
on their list. The structures mentioned on the Russian list - the Congress of
the Peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan and the Supreme Military Majlis ul-Shura
of the Mojahedin are not on the American "blacklist" as the US State Department
did not wish to discredit its list with [Russian presidential aide Sergey]
Yastrzhembskiy's "dead souls".
The Riyadus-Saliheyn Martyrs' Brigade under the command of Shamil Basayev is a
purely military-guerrilla structure which is waging a legitimate armed struggle
against the occupation forces of the aggressor state using the means and
methods available to it, including on the enemy's territory.
In line with the norms of so-called international law, to which Moscow and the
West like to refer to so much, the victim of an armed aggression has legitimate
grounds to carry out strikes, including sabotage strikes against military,
political-administrative and strategic targets on the territory of the aggressor
country. These are absolutely legal military targets for the defending side. These
actions are still legitimate even if the military-political leadership
of the victim country refrains from such attacks for reasons of political
expediency or humanitarianism as is the case with the leadership of the
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
No state in the world has any legal grounds to describe any structures of
the Chechen Resistance, including autonomous structures, as "terrorist structures".
The confusion of the ideas of "terrorism" and "national liberation movement"
is an absolute propaganda ploy. This is obvious from the example of the
USA and Russia who have "struck a deal" for political reasons on the "Chechen
issue" in the run-up to the settlement of the "Iraq issue".
Many Chechen representatives believe that the only reason that prompted the White
House to the absolutely illegitimate inclusion of one of the autonomous
Chechen guerrilla structures on the so- called "terrorist list" is the policy
of appeasing Moscow before invading Iraq.
But even in this case, the US State Department's decision will hardly have
any consequences for the Riyad us-Saliheyn fighters. None of them have accounts
in American banks and will hardly apply for an American visa. For the "members"
of other "organizations" mentioned on the American "black list", this issue
is not topical at all as these "organizations" do not exist physically.
Nevertheless, the ridiculous farce with "Chechen terrorist organizations"
provoked by the Kremlin is continuing. The Russian media report that for
the first time in the history of the United Nations, all five permanent member-states
of the UN Security Council have appealed to the UN committee on sanctions, demanding
that all three "Chechen organizations" be included on the so-called "list of international
terrorist organizations". The press service of the US State Department reported
that the USA, Russia, Britain, China and France, as well as Spain, had put
forward this demand to the UN.
We should add on our own behalf that this is not the only thing that happened
for the first time. For the first time in the history of the UN, all five
permanent member-states of the UN Security Council have been put in such
a ridiculous light before the whole world thanks to Russia.
As for the Kremlin's idea of its own "list of terrorist organizations",
which the Russians are parroting, everything ended just like [ex-Russian
Prime Minister Viktor] Chernomyrdin said - "We wanted better, but got the
same".
S.Akhmadov
Source: Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency web site in Russian 1 Mar 03