YASTRZHEMBSKY: How do you do? The interest in briefings has been falling, and this is a satisfactory and happy development, meaning that there is few hot news from Chechnya. I am satisfied with this.
Let's begin our work nevertheless. Acting Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to speed up the work to form a governmental commission that would make a decision on the restoration of Grozny and the purchase of special restoration equipment.
I told you yesterday that an Arab mercenary, Abd al Aziza Muhammed Abd al Wahhaba, had been detained in Chechnya and delivered to Moscow. Excuse me if I made the wrong stresses. A few details of his detainment. When he was detained, he had a submachine-gun, grenades, a direction-finding navigation device called Navigator, and drawings of panel houses and description of methods of explosions, the placing of explosives, ways of mining and blowing up residential blocks. Aleksandr Zdanovich will make a more detailed report on this issue at 2 p.m. tomorrow, an hour before General Manilov's briefing. I think he will provide new information.
According to information available to me, a briefing was held, or will be held, in Kazan today where new information about the explosion of the gas pipeline will be presented. I think it happened last year, in December. Ten terrorists who took part in that operation were detained. They all were born in Tatarstan or neighbouring regions. Two recruiters, graduates of the so-called Khattab school, have been put on the wanted list. They provide ample testimony about the goals of that group, the reasons for mining and exploding the gas pipeline, and the organisation of that operation. I think Zdanovich will tell you the details tomorrow. I also think he will tell you about the testimony which Basayev's assistant, who was responsible for the financing of bandit groups, is giving.
A few words about the operational situation. Not that I have extensive information today. This is why, I think, your interest in briefings has slackened. The law enforcement ministries say the situation in Chechnya remains rather complicated, although hostilities have virtually stopped, and there have been no direct clashes, with the exception of shoot-outs outside Komsomolskoye and the limited actions of frontline aviation undertaken to liquidate small bandit groups. Of the settlements and districts where aviation and artillery were active, delivering, in part, preventive strikes at the suspected deployment sites of bandit groups, I can name Orekhovo, Selmentauzen, Maly Aleroi and Shalazhi.
Information from the Interior Ministry: 12 preventive operations were held yesterday, resulting in the detainment of five fighters, confiscation of seven firearms and 17 explosive devices. Over 2,800 people and about 2,000 vehicles were inspected. In the night of March 21/22, two conscripted servicemen were released in the Vedeno regional centre without preliminary conditions or ransom. One of them is Private Gorbunov, Military Unit 3642 of the Interior Troops. The other is Private Bruslik, Military Unit 29483 of the Defence Ministry. The former was kidnapped outside the village of Novolakskoye, Dagestan, in September last year, and the latter, in the village of Duba-Yurt in early February this year.
The extremists have not stopped their attempts to thwart the elections in Chechnya. A car of the regional election commission was shot at from automatic weapons in the village of Zakan-Yurt, Achkhoi-Martan district. Simultaneously, the building of the local administration was put on fire there. Five land mines, ready to explode, were found and rendered harmless in the settlement of Belorechye, Kurchaloi district. According to operational information, the Chechen fighters are worried by the forthcoming disconnection of the Iridium satellite communication system, which their leaders actively used. As far as we know, they are trying to buy radiotelephones of other systems abroad, admittedly in some Arab countries.
Information from the Emergencies Ministry: 131,037 people have returned to their homes. And here is the sad news: 19 bodies were found and buried in Grozny yesterday. In all, 675 bodies have been buried at the city cemeteries.
Information from the Ministry of Justice: there are 83 people in the Chernokozovo detention ward, where 896 people had been held in all. As many as 472 people were released after being thoroughly checked. The Chernokozovo detention ward was shot at yesterday, but the attackers were dispersed by return fire. Nobody on the staff of the ward was killed or wounded. Ten people, who had been detained on suspicion of involvement in illegal armed formations, will be released in Chernokozovo at 2 p.m. today. It was established during the investigation of their cases that they had not committed grave and particularly grave crimes, and hence should be freed from criminal punishment in accordance with the December 13, 1999 resolution of the State Duma on amnesty. Nikolai Koshman and Mufti Kadyrov of the Moslem Board of Chechnya planned to attend the ceremony.
A government commission is expected in Chechnya today for handling questions of the economic and social restoration of Chechnya. Representatives of 20 ministries and departments, including law enforcement and many civilian ones, will spend a week analysing ways to normalise the economic and socio-political spheres in the republic. It is expected that nearly 4 billion roubles, or more precisely 3.991 billion roubles, will be spent on the restoration of peaceful life in Chechnya in the second quarter of this year.
And the remaining information. We have more than once expressed serious concern over the fact that the so-called mission of Chechnya in Georgia and the Chechen information centre are openly operating in Tbilisi. The staff of those two offices numbers nearly 100. According to competent Russian services, these structures coordinate the terrorists' actions to provide weapons and munitions to the remaining bandit groups in Chechnya, deliver fighters abroad and organize the treatment of wounded fighters, as well as provide propaganda backing to the operation of the bandit groups. We noticed that Aldamov, the so-called Chechen representative in Georgia, has been giving more press conferences of late.
Despite the repeated statements by the Georgian authorities to the effect that they recognize only the official mission of Russia, that is the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Georgia, the aforementioned offices have not curtailed, but are even trying to expand their activities. This seriously worries us, because the representatives of the Chechen terrorists in Tbilisi present a threat not only to Russia, but also to Georgia. And we cannot understand the sluggishness with which the authorities of a country friendly to Russia are acting with regard to these two offices. We know very well how touchy the Georgian leadership is on the issue of territorial integrity, and this is understandable. And we can imagine the reaction of the Tbilisi authorities if an Abkhaz information office or an information centre of South Ossetia opened in Moscow. I think we have the right to expect the Tbilisi authorities to close down these two centres, whose operation is subversive with regard to Russia.
TV CENTRE: You did not say anything about [Chechen] refugees in Ingushetia. It was several times reported today that they lack food and the issue of hot meals and bread to them was stopped today. What will you do to change the situation?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Indeed, I did not say anything on this score, because Sergei Shoigu spoke in detail about it yesterday. And representatives of the Federal Migration Service spoke about it, too. As far as I remember, some 21,000 tons of humanitarian aid were delivered to refugee camps in the North Caucasus in the past three months. I know very well that this might not be enough. But as far as I know, no decisions were made to stop feeding the refugees in the camps. It is another matter that the accent in the work of the Emergencies Ministry will be shifted soon from Ingushetia to Chechnya. I think you should ask the Federal Migration Service for details, because it shoulders the bulk of responsibility of working with the refugees, displaced persons and forced migrants.
QUESTION: Let's return to the issue with which you began the briefing...
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Are you here? Scandinavian telegraph agencies and the News Agency of Denmark. Yes?
THE SAME: I would like to return to what you said yesterday, that this detained Arab came from Denmark. Do you have grounds to say that he had lived in Denmark before coming to Chechnya?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Yes, certainly.
THE SAME: Can you speak in more details, please? How old is he?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Zdanovich will speak in greater detail. As far as I know, he came to Chechnya in 1996. Yesterday I told you about his route, a rather interesting route, but he was not the first to use it. It is news to us that this man, born in Iraq, had permanently resided in Denmark, from which he went to Georgia via Istanbul, and on to Chechnya. The documents he had on him provide a complete picture of that route - there are corresponding stamps. But I think Mr. Zdanovich will speak in greater detail about this tomorrow. I don't have his passport data here. Please, wait until tomorrow.
AKTUALT, A DANISH NEWSPAPER: I would like to ask about the citizenship of this mercenary.
YASTRZHEMBSKY: His citizenship? A difficult question, because I have told you that he was born in Iraq but lived in Denmark. The passport issued to him in Chechnya is false. An old Soviet passport. Maybe we will get some new information today. We have the testimony of the people who were detained together with him, a woman and another fighter; they are giving testimony now. Maybe Mr. Zdanovich will have much more information tomorrow.
ROSBUSINESSCONSULTING: You mentioned the efforts of the government commission on the restoration of Grozny. In what capacity will Grozny be restored if we know that it will not be Chechnya's capital any longer? Will it be a regional centre, or a museum city, an open-air memorial, or something else?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Probably only RosBusinessConsulting knows this. So. You alone probably know this.
THE SAME: Why did he say this?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Who did?
THE SAME: Koshman said that Grozny would not be Chechnya's capital.
YASTRZHEMBSKY: We have later statements from Vladimir Putin. I think the mass media and the public are aware of them. They were made at a meeting with the representatives of the heads of local administrations in Chechnya. Nobody has of late questioned the need to restore Grozny as the capital of Chechnya. The only question is the deadlines and the funds.
RADIO LIBERTY: Will there be permanent foreign observers in Chechnya or not? And the second question: I would like to return to the issue of the [Chechen] information centres in Georgia. Did the [Russian] authorities send official protest notes to Georgia? And what was the reaction?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Yes, a corresponding action was taken with regard to the Georgian Ambassador in Russia, and the Russian Foreign Ministry made its attitude to the problem known to the Georgian side. But Georgia officially stated that the only mission they recognize is the Russian Embassy in Georgia. As for these two centres, which are engaged in anti-Russian activities, no intelligible statements were made on this score. One usually mentions a humane attitude to the wounded and so on in such cases. But these are two different things - the wounded, and the work of these two centres, employing nearly 100 openly anti-Russian personnel. Moreover, they openly express their sentiments.
Now for the first question, about [foreign] representatives in Chechnya. You know that there had been an OSCE mission in Grozny, which left the city after several mission members were kidnapped. Today an OSCE representative, an Austrian diplomat, Ambassador Misong, is in Moscow. He has recently visited Chechnya and reported on the results of that trip in the OSCE headquarters. I think there are no hindrances to the return of the OSCE mission to Chechnya. But the main question under consideration is ways of ensuring the security of mission
members.
The Council of Europe is another international organisation, which wants to have a permanent mission in Chechnya. I think this question will be settled positively, too. I don't want to go too far too soon, but Vladimir Kalamanov has just returned from Strasbourg, where the Council of Europe is headquartered. One of his tasks was to come to an agreement with the CE leaders. The point at issue is that Kalamanov's mission, his office established in the village of Znamenskoye, should incorporate two CE experts. In principle, we have a positive attitude to this CE initiative. If an agreement is reached on this score, we hope the experts will arrive there really soon. Other observers are not on the agenda today. We think that, in principle, the presence of these two respected organisations, with their limited mandates, providing for operation in Chechnya proper, would be quite enough.
QUESTION: You did not tell us if that mercenary was a commander or financed bandit groups. Is there any information about this?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Tomorrow, [you'll hear] all other news tomorrow. Thank you.
Design & Development Xanadu Studio
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
