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THE MEASURES BEING TAKEN BY THE RUSSIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY TO COMBAT ETHNIC CRIMES

24.12.1999

NIKOLAI A. MOROZOV - Deputy Chief of the Russian Interior Ministry's main department for combating organised crime, Colonel of Militia

MOROZOV - We have decided to narrow the subject: combating hostage-taking and kidnapping. To solve this problem, the 14^th division has been set up to combat kidnapping. It makes it possible to coordinate activities in the republic of North Ossetia-Alania and in the zone of the Osset-Ingush conflict. Due to the aggravation of the operative situation, a department to combat kidnapping and hostage-taking has been set up in the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Daghestan.

Under the Criminal Code, these crimes fall under articles 126 and 206. Kidnapping in the North Caucasus has become one of the most profitable types of the criminal business. The summing up of the available operative information has shown that a well-adjusted criminal system stands behind numerous facts of kidnapping. There is a division of functions: locals kidnap, while bandits ensure the upkeep of victims and the getting of ransom.

Basayev, Khattab, Barayev, Umarov and Bakuyev remain the leaders of bandit groups. An analysis of statistics points to a growth in the number of crimes related to kidnapping since 1991. In 1991 no facts of kidnapping were registered; in 1992 - two persons were kidnapped; in 1993 - two persons were kidnapped; in 1994 - 28 persons were kidnapped, no one freed; in 1995 - 312 persons were kidnapped, 12 freed; in 1996 - 437 persons were kidnapped, 21 freed; in 1997 - 371 persons were kidnapped, 34 freed; in 1998 - 304 persons were kidnapped, 283 freed; in 1999 - 339 persons were kidnapped, 478 freed. All in all, over 3,500 persons who were kidnapped, taken hostage or are missing have been registered in the North Caucasus.

As of today, in the North Caucasus 1,786 persons have been kidnapped. As many as 835 have been freed, 951 remain kidnapped, of whom 50 are women, 43 - officers of Interior and Defence Ministries troops, 60 - officers of the bodies the interior, 14 - minors and 12 - foreigners.

From Daghestan 78 persons have been kidnapped, from North Ossetia-Alania - 86, Ingushetia - 46, Kabardino-Balkaria - 19, Karachayevo-Circassia - 5, the Stavropol Territory - 27, the Chechen Republic - 52 and from other regions - 25. In the course of operative-investigation activities, units for combating organised crime have eliminated 41 criminal groups in the North Caucasus. These are 149 persons who kidnapped people. A total of 216 criminal cases have been opened and 89 persons suspected of committing this type of crime have been detained.

In each of the North Caucasian republics there are several districts where criminals realise their designs more often than elsewhere. In Daghestan these are Makhachkala, the Buinaksk, Khasavyurt and Kizlyar districts. In the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania - Vladikavkaz, the zone of the Chermen settlement, the Kirovsky district. In Ingushetia - the populated areas of Nazran. In the Stavropol Territory - Mineralnye Vody, Pyatigorsk and the Kursky district. In Kabardino-Balkaria - the Prokhladnensky and Maisky districts. Cases of kidnapping have been registered in other regions of Russia, too.

Kidnapping of minors is a cause for special concern. In 1998, 40 minors were kidnapped, 29 freed. Since January 1, 1999, 11 children have been kidnapped, 8 freed. A total of 51 minors have been kidnapped, 37 freed and 14 are still being kept as hostages.

There have been cases of militants' crude treatment of hostages: public executions, cutting off parts of bodies. The crimes committed against foreign citizens cause a particularly angry outcry. As many as 52 citizens from non-CIS countries have been kidnapped, 36 freed. Four hostages were murdered - Englishmen and a New Zealander. An important point to note is the increased danger for foreign citizens' stay in the North Caucasus due to the fact that they become the objects of heightened interest on the part of Chechen bandit formations. In many cases foreign citizens, especially journalists, leave without taking safety measures, for Chechnya, where they are kidnapped.

Foreigners choose apartments owned by private individuals as the place of their residence. French citizen Cochtel lived in a private house from where he was kidnapped by three armed criminals in August 1998. The citizens of Great Britain and New Zealand lived in Grozny, without taking personal safety measures. On October 3, 1998 they were kidnapped and on December 10 killed. The citizens of Poland - Fischer, Malanowskaya and Vival, repeatedly moved without the corresponding guard across the mountain villages of Daghestan, accompanied by their driver and engaged in scientific research. On August 10, 1999 they were kidnapped on the Georgiyevsky bridge.

Of late, the officers of the main department who visited the North Caucasus, have carried out 7 special operations involving the use of arms. As a result, 17 hostages have been freed and three criminal groups specialising in kidnapping and a forceful detention of hostages in Daghestan, Ingushetia and Karachayevo-Circassia arrested.

Over the last week, two persons have been kidnapped in Russia and 13 freed. From November 15 to December 15, 4 persons were kidnapped in Russia - two minors and two adults - and 29 persons forcefully kept as hostages freed. Ten servicemen, three officers of the bodies of the interior, two minors and 14 civilians were freed.

THE NEWSPAPER OF THE MOSCOW GOVERNMENT TVERSKAYA, 13: How many people have been kidnapped from the Moscow region and how many freed? How are organised criminal groups in the Moscow region linked with Chechen groups? How many kidnappers have been detained in the Moscow region?

MOROZOV - In our system the Moscow region means Moscow, Moscow Region and the Golden Ring. Nazarbekov, 29, was kidnapped in Moscow and Isayeva, 28, - in Tula. As to the ties between Moscow and Chechen criminal groups, regrettably, Moscow is represented by the entire ethnic spectrum of crime. Moscow, as the central region, has always attracted particular attention in the sense of committing crimes: there are vast financial opportunities here, from the banking system to markets.

Some time ago, we draw up the "Plan " system - to undermine the economic foundations of ethnic crime - in order to block the flows of money, which were remitted by bandit formations to Chechnya. Investigation is over on a bank, which was closely controlled by a Chechen organised criminal group and financed Chechen bandit formations. As a result of a package of measures, the bank's license was revoked and it stopped to exist.

INTERFAX: Is there any new information about General Shpigun's whereabouts? What measures are being taken to free him? Has not the third stage of the operation been complicated due to the fact that Chechens have to retreat into the mountains?

MOROZOV: Work to free Gennady Shpigun has not stopped for a moment. The territory occupied by bandit formations has markedly shrunk now. Leaving the occupied territories, bandit formations take along hostages, as a rule. Now that federal forces control the territory, there are more opportunities for operative actions.

FRANCE-PRESSE: If you remember, Mr. Izmailov, right after blasts in Moscow, directly linked them to members of the Ukrainian organisation UNA-UNSO. Do you have any data confirming or refuting the complicity of this organisation's members in the criminal business in the Caucasus?

MOROZOV - As to Mr Izmailov's utterances, he was misled. A certain man said that he had prepared the blasts as a member of the Slav group dispatched by Basayev to Moscow. We closely examined the matter and found out that this man is nobody else but another "Lieutenant Schmidt's son", who came to Moscow to make money. With regard to the blasts in Moscow, the circle of executors and customers has already been defined. Some of executors have been arrested and the greater part of them is wanted by the militia. The customers are in Chechnya - the Chechen ringleaders Basayev and Khattab. The Ukrainian organisation you mentioned is in no way linked to the blasts.

RIA NOVOSTI: How do you cooperate with Lebed's mission? With the self same Izmailov?

MOROZOV: The attitude to hostages has sharply deteriorated in Chechnya of late. You have seen cut-off heads and shot-off fingers on TV. It is not a matter of principle with whose help we manage to draw these people out of hell. In this case any help is useful. That is why we treat well those private organisations that deal with this problem. We managed to step up work only thanks to these non-governmental organisations. And it is not fortuitous that only two persons have been kidnapped of late, and in the adjacent republics, not Chechnya proper.

NOVYE IZVESTIA: What is the most dangerous ethnic criminal group in Moscow?

MOROZOV: The sphere of activity of ethnic criminal groups in Moscow covers everything: from kidnapping, robberies and looting to white-collar crime. A certain division of the spheres of influence is observed. Say, the greatest number of crimes has been traditionally committed in market places - these are Azerbaijani criminal groups. In banking - others, robberies - third, the illegal car business - fourth and alcohol - fifth.

RADIO LIBERTY: The autumn arrests of Chechens in Moscow under Luzhkov's known Resolution 1007 were partly due to the formation of a new exchange fund - in order to exchange Russian hostages for Chechen. Could you comment on this?

MOROZOV: This idea is absolutely new for me. What do you mean by saying "autumn arrests"? We are conducting purposeful and planned work. If a person is arrested, then he is arrested not just as a citizen whom law enforcement agencies do not like, but as a person who committed or is committing a crime.

A VOICE FROM THE AUDIENCE: What are the specifics of combating precisely ethnic criminal groups?

MOROZOV: A specific feature is the organisation of criminal communities themselves. They are formed on the basis of one, rarely two nationalities. Belonging to a certain teip (clan) is of crucial importance in this case.