Kadyrov ready to fight rebels on his own
Òåêñò: Ksenia Solyanskaya Archive photo
Akhmad Kadyrov is set to ask Vladimir Putin to give the Chechen Interior Ministry full control over the situation in Chechnya. The head of the pro-Moscow civil administration hopes this will help reduce the number of abductions in the republic. Moreover, it should help him to confidently conduct a successful presidential election campaign.
Kadyrov first called for control over the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya to be transferred from the federal troops and security services to the republic’s Interior Ministry even before such an agency had been formed. As the months have gone by, the head of the Chechen administration has been gradually nearing his desired goal and looks like achieving it.
According to Gazeta.Ru sources, the decision to transfer control of the anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya to the head of the province’s Interior Ministry has virtually been taken. The only thing that remains unclear is when exactly this transfer will occur. According to one plan it is to take place in early autumn, a month or two before the presidential poll in Chechnya.
An alternative plan envisages a more cautious approach: the federal centre will officially announce its decision before the voting, but the transfer itself will take place only after the results are announced.
Under the second scenario the federal centre will be more confident that the situation in Chechnya in the run-up to the election (provisionally to be held simultaneously with elections to the State Duma in December) will not be destabilized by the rebels, and that Kadyrov does not get distracted by having to conduct search and sweep operations in the highlands.
However, ''postponing the transfer'' may undermine Kadyrov’s chances of winning the poll as voters are likely to perceive it as pre-election talk, not necessarily followed up by any significant action.
Be that as it may, Kadyrov himself is convinced that the sooner the FSB transfers control over to the Chechens, the sooner peace and order will be restored in the republic and tensions between the military and civilians will be eased.
He very much hopes that Putin will agree to his request and entrust the task of maintaining constitutional order in Chechnya to the 12,000-strong Chechen police force.
''In this case there will be no need for armoured fighting vehicles to roll uncontrollably through the streets. And if the police need help in liquidating a [rebel] gang, it will turn to the military. But, at the same time, everyone in the republic will know that military servicemen are not involved in the disappearances of people, and that the Interior Ministry will be held responsible for what is happening in the republic,'' the head of administration told the press in Grozny on Monday.
''Up until now, in most cases connected with the disappearance of people on the territory of Chechnya armoured vehicles have been involved. But to find those guilty is impossible, since they start asking what colour the carriers were, which licence plates they bore, and to which agency they belonged,'' Kadyrov complained to Interfax.
He is convinced, that the strength of the local police will ''help it accomplish any tasks on the territory of Chechnya''. After all, even if there are indeed still some 2,000 rebels active in the republic (according to official data from the presidential administration released in early autumn 2002), there are 6 policemen to deal with every single rebel.
Furthermore, the police can always summon the military, with their aviation, armoured vehicles and artillery. Besides, the military will stay in Chechnya, though Kadyrov maintains that they should be confined to their bases and isolated from local residents. Raids involving federal troops would be carried out only with the republican Interior Ministry’s consent and under its direction.
Then, namely the Interior Ministry will bear full responsibility for all violations during security raids, for the disappearance of people during mopping-up operations, for destroying civilian property as a result of erroneous or excessive force.
It is namely this point in Kadyrov’s plan that the Kremlin likes most – shifting the responsibility for the lawless and arbitrary actions of the federal troops against civilians in the republic.
It is obvious that if control over operations is transferred to the Chechen police, much will depend on the person that heads the Ministry. Kadyrov has already taken care of this: according to the Chechen chief, the newly appointed Interior Minister Ali Alkhanov ''is able to duly organize work aimed at eradicating crime and banditry''.
''I pin great hopes on Alkhanov, I know him as a courageous, experienced, unbending officer,'' Kadyrov told the press, adding that he ''fully trusts'' his police and is certain of its efficiency.
Yet, despite Kadyrov’s perseverance and the new minister’s assumed ability to wage a war against crime and banditry, they still do not have a decisive argument with which to convince the Kremlin that the sooner the republican authorities assume control over the counter-terrorist operation, the better it will be for the republic.
The problem is that so far, the Chechen Interior Ministry has conducted no successful operation aimed at eliminating notorious rebel warlords or big rebel units. The military still play a decisive role in hunting and liquidating separatist units. For instance, during a security raid in Grozny on Monday the federals came across 25 antitank guided missiles. The cache was discovered in a dilapidated building in the city centre, right under the noses of the Chechen police. 29 ÀÏÐÅËß 14:01
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