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Dear Friends,
This week, Radio Free Europe
profiled Ramzan Kadyrov, President of the Chechen Republic, noting that:
"Last summer, Kadyrov's trusted henchman Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov held
a series of meetings in Europe with Akhmed Zakayev, head of the Chechen
government in exile, [organised by Chechnya Peace Forum] and secured
Zakayev's backing for Kadyrov's plan to promote political
reconciliation."
The article continues to examine whether "Kadyrov's star [is] on the
wane?" by reporting that: "Since the start of the year, he has
incurred veiled criticism from both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In addition, he has been the subject of
damaging allegations from media outlets both in Russia and abroad."
Elsewhere, the Daily Telegraph interviewed Elena Kudimova, the sister of
murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who said that: "'When Putin
came to power, they decided not to cover what went on in Chechnya, to try
and keep it quiet from the rest of the country,' says Mrs Kudimova.
'That's why Anna probably wasn't in a good relationship with the
government, because she was doing quite the opposite - she was trying to
attract the attention of people in Russia but also of people abroad,
about what was happening.'"
The Daily Telegraph also reports today on a report published by a think
tank founded by President Medvedev, writing that: "Advisers to
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have publicly and sharply challenged
Vladimir Putin's political legacy, arguing Russia needs to join Nato and
replace authoritarianism with liberal democracy."
The Eurasia Daily Monitor summarises a report from the Kavkazsky Uzel
website that: "While Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has called
corruption as great a threat to society as terrorism, Chechen human
rights activists and inhabitants of the republic alike believe that
corruption has become an 'unwritten rule' in Chechnya. The website quoted
unnamed human rights activists as saying that the level of corruption in
Chechnya is 'enormous,' even when compared with high levels of corruption
in the rest of Russia."
The article goes on to cite an example where: "For instance, the
website pointed to a recent criminal case involving the embezzlement of
3.5 million rubles (more than $115,000) in budgetary funds allocated for
the construction of a school-hostel for deaf and hearing-impaired
children in Grozny, the Chechen capital."
Finally, the Economist reviews the relationship between the Kremlin and
the Russian regions, writing that: "The north Caucasus ... was
colonised by Russia only in the second half of the 19th century, and was
never fully assimilated. Russia's reliance on force and repression to
pacify the region steadily undermined the legitimacy of its rule.
Following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Chechnya demanded
full independence. Almost 20 years and two brutal wars later, the
republic finds itself ruled by Ramzan Kadyrov, a Kremlin-backed strongman
with his own small army and a great deal of autonomy."
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