Tension is continuing in the Russian republic of Karelia following recent disorders prompted by ethnic enmity. In a bid to analyse the situation, Russian Ekho Moskvy radio put together remarks by a number of prominent politicians and pundits whose views range from "the empire is falling apart" to "everything is under control". A prominent MP has warned that right-wing nationalists and fascists are ready to get involved in ethnic violence in the regions, and the Chechen leadership, on the other hand, is ready to get involved in tackling the situation, the radio said. The following is the excerpt from report on 4 September; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
[Presenter] Now about the developments in Karelia. Tension around the events taking place in the town of Kondopoga has not eased up. On the contrary, as it transpired later today, 109 people have been detained following the disturbances. Of them 25 have been arrested on the basis of court injunctions and judges are looking into information about another several dozen people. The criminal proceedings have been launched under Article 212 "Mass disturbances". Our special correspondent Roman Plyusov is in Kondopoga, he is reporting live by telephone. [Passage omitted: greetings, the correspondent says the town appears calm but it feels like a calm before a storm. Shops are not selling alcohol, riot police are still in town but not patrolling the streets] We had reports that 400 policemen and 200 people's militiamen are controlling order in Kondopoga. Are they all out there in the streets?
Tension in Kondopoga
[Correspondent] Marina, I have been out and about all day, driving around all day, and I have not seen uniformed policemen. [Passage omitted: repetition] Do you see people from the Caucasus in the streets, or their families? As our listeners are aware, the mass disorders were caused by brawls between locals and people from the Caucasus. People from the Caucasus are not seen in the streets. As far as I know all of them have been evacuated by the republican authorities to Petrozavodsk and were accommodated in hotels there. As far as I know, no more than six families are currently in town.
[Presenter] Have the republican authorities arrived in Kondopoga? Much was said today about them being in control of the situation and closely watching what has been going on. Who is visiting Kondopoga now?
[Correspondent] A meeting of the republican leadership is taking place in Kondopoga here. The prime minister and the entire economic bloc are here, working with entrepreneurs. They wanted to explain to vendors and ask them to create more jobs for young people who are not involved in any work and, according to the official version, it was these young people who staged the disorders. The meeting became very tense from the first minute and unfolded along some unexpected lines. People expressed their dissatisfaction with the progress of the investigation and on the whole they said they are not happy about the situation surrounding illegal migration. They are not happy about the official version of the events which alleged there was no interethnic hatred there, and that the disturbances were provoked by criminal elements who wanted to re-divide their property.
Over 300 Kondopoga entrepreneurs attended the meeting and they all said there was no re-division of property and that this was ruled out in this town. The authorities came up with this version in order to take the public's attention away from the interethnic character of the disorders and night-time violence.
[Presenter] Does this mean that people insist the disorders were based on enmity in interethnic relations?
Chechens
[Correspondent] Yes, Marina, the situation is unique here. People are well aware that those who came here from the Caucasus and from Chechnya are also Russian nationals and they can live anywhere in Russia. People are well aware of all this. People ask why the police have allowed the disturbances to happen. Why, in this small calm Karelian provincial town where nothing ever happens, an absolutely peaceful town which has been happily developing, events began to take place, like, say on 30 August when two local residents were killed in a showdown in a local cafe and another six people were wounded, of them three are in grave condition with knife wounds. This was a conflict with members of the Kondopoga Chechen diaspora. [Passage omitted: saying good-bye]
[Presenter] Correspondent Yevgeniya Ten will tell us what local people think about the events. [Passage omitted: background]. Karelia's prosecutors have instituted 13 criminal cases following the events. [Passage omitted: the authorities are trying to calm people down] Prosecutors are working on the case. This is what the head of the office, Vladimir Panasenko, has to say.
[Panasenko] We met businessmen, diaspora members, searched the town and drew our conclusions. I think a number of good thought-out decisions has been made, measures have been taken. Businessmen were asked why such conflicts could begin and what grievances they had, and why they failed to regulate their relations for a long time. At least, they received our recommendations.
People leaving town
[Presenter] Our correspondent Ivan Gayev was told by acting head of the district administration Petr Kirillenko that everything is calm.
[Kirillenko] We checked this morning how things are. On the whole people are working calmly today. I drove around the town early this morning at two in the morning, on my own initiative, and the situation was calm. There were no rioting groups.
[Correspondent] Is it true that all the ethnic minorities have left the town?
[Kirillenko] We do not have reliable reports. I know, though, that some people have left, not all of them. Just to avoid provoking trouble, and there is to some extent danger and anxiety and I think whoever has left, they must have had their good reasons for that.
[Presenter] Despite all these words, many people disagree that the situation in Karelia is stabilizing. Kamil Kalandarov, member of the Public Chamber, thinks the situation is deteriorating. According to his information, great numbers of nationalistically-minded people are amassing in the region.
Nationalists ready to step in
[Kalandarov] Never ever before in Russia had nationalists and fascists been invited to take part in minor clashes. This case in Karelia is the first one. I think this is the first step towards very serious conflicts. This should not have been allowed to happen. I think the local authorities are to blame and we are very concerned that the Chechen parliament has already got involved in the conflict. A delegation of the Chechen parliament has left for the scene. More and more new people are getting involved in the conflict, including a statement by the World Russian People's Convocation today. This is not what was needed for a domestic conflict in Karelia. It seems to me this is a very fearsome symptom of a future disease.
[Presenter] Meanwhile, the prime minister of the Chechen government, Ramzan Kadyrov, has expressed serious concern over the situation in Kondopoga. He directly reprimanded the local authorities by saying they were not doing anything. In an interview Kadyrov promised to find alternative legal methods to normalize the situation.
[Kadyrov] If the Interior Ministry and local authorities cannot deal with the task, they should tender resignation and there should come other people who will have specific positions and will be able to take specific measures. Why should we use force if we have laws.
Kadyrov
[Presenter] Kadyrov said that Karelia's Chechen diaspora has approached him asking to interfere and help them. However, the Karelian authorities are not happy about the idea of Kadyrov coming to help them out. We can see this judging by what the Karelian leader's press secretary, Aleksandr Smirnov, has said.
[Smirnov] As usual, Kadyrov is rattling his sabre without having the full picture. He does not have full information. He simply does not have information. He thinks the Chechens were hurt here. In fact, it was the other way round. President Alu Alkhanov, the president of Chechnya, held talks with the head of Karelia yesterday and expressed his condolences over the deaths and said that all those who took part in the brawl should be punished.
[Presenter] Karelian upper house MP Gen Vladimir Fedorov is also confident that the conflict in Kondopoga is not based on interethnic enmity and this is why it does not require interference from Chechnya.
[Fedorov] I do not think that the intolerance towards migrants mattered there. I think this was more about jobs and preferences given to migrants with regard to organizing their trade, and so on. Everything began on the market, in trade outlets. Do you remember how it was in Moscow - the same thing happened on the markets there, and what happened in Kondopoga is similar. The local authorities in all the regions should pay attention to the policy, to how licences are issued and how trading places are granted and how places for catering, for eateries are granted. The local population should not take offence. I think that the authorities in Karelia will calmly sort the situation out, without an external interference. I think the conflict has been artificially fanned and fomented by the Chechen republic. This is totally uncalled for.
[Presenter] Our observer Yuliya Latynina, while she did not know what Kadyrov was going to propose, said in her Saturday programme "The Code of Access" that such a scenario was possible. It is difficult to say what scenario the events in Kondopoga will develop along with, if Ramzan Kadyrov's special purpose units arrive there, Latynina said.
[Latynina] Just imagine that Ramzan Kadyrov's special troops will arrive in Kondopoga. That very riot force which in Chechnya cuts people's heads off, hangs Chechen people's heads on pipelines, those who hunt for rebels and who do what they do with those rebels. What do you think, how these Russian nationalists will feel? In principle, the Russian nationalists are used to kill nine-year-old girls only, and preferably when there are 10 of them against a little girl. But the special purpose unit can simply arrive in Chechnya. I state this with deep sadness. This is a sign of an empire which is falling apart. Empires are always international. If the peoples in the empire hate each other, this means the state will fall apart. But I state with great sadness that, if Kadyrov's troops, privately or officially, begin to sort out our right-wing Russian nationalists, I am afraid it will be Kadyrov's men who will win.
Alkhanov
[Presenter] We must add that the president of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov, was much more wary in his assessment of the Kondopoga events than his premier Kadyrov. According to Alkhanov, this was an act of hooliganism, and Alkhanov has categorically spoken against the Chechens moving back to Chechnya from other constituent parts of Russia. Nevertheless, Alkhanov did send a Chechen delegation to Karelia. He said the delegation will study the situation on the scene and will work out recommendations.
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