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FINROSFORUM  //  The Finnish-Russian Civic Forum strives to promote cooperation between the peoples of Finland and Russia by supporting civic initiatives for democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech.

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May 27 / 10:21pm

The Kremlin's Chechen Dragon

by Mikael Storsjö

How long can Moscow ignore the mounting evidence against its Chechen puppet?

In the summer of 2004, two years and four months before she was gunned down in the entrance to her Moscow apartment, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya made a bold visit to Chechnya to interview 27-year-old Ramzan Kadyrov, who had recently become (with the Kremlin’s blessing) the republic’s de-facto leader. It proved to be a harrowing experience. When they met face to face, Kadyrov could not contain his rage at Politkovskaya for reporting on his brutal rise to power, even threatening to have her shot. Politkovskaya concluded later that “a little dragon has been raised by the Kremlin. Now they need to feed it. Otherwise it will spit fire.”

Politkovskaya was all too right. Since becoming president of Chechnya in 2007, Kadyrov has made the republic into his own fiefdom, which he rules by violence and terror. He has also, apparently, had his gunmen carry out a series of brazen killings of his perceived enemies in Moscow, Dubai, Istanbul and the North Caucasus.

Until recently, the Kremlin, which has provided military and economic support to Kadyrov’s regime, consistently brushed off the murder allegations against him. Since April, prosecutors in two separate cases—a murder in Vienna and a murder attempt in Moscow—have for the first time implicated Kadyrov directly. And in the weeks since those revelations, the Kremlin leadership appears to be showing misgivings about its unconditional support for Kadyrov. How these cases play out could have profound effects on the future of Moscow’s Chechen policy.

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Filed under // Chechnya Human Rights Kadyrov Medvedev Murder North Caucasus Putin

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May 5 / 12:50am

Venäjän pakolaisvirta Suomeen yltyy

by Mikael Storsjö

Euroopan komission alainen tilastoyksikkö Eurostat julkaisi tiistaina vuoden 2009 pakolaistilastonsa. Eurooppaan tuli viime vuonna lähes 261 000 turvapaikanhakijaa; näistä lähes 48.000 Ranskaan. Kaiken kaikkiaan Venäjän Federaatiosta tulleiden turvapaikanhakijoiden määrä oli yli 20.000 henkilöä, eli toiseksi suurin määrä heti afgaanipakolaisten jälkeen.

Suomen osalta tilastot osoittavat huimaa nousua Venäjän federaatiosta tulleiden turvapaikanhakijoiden osalta. Pakolaisneuvonnan tilastoinnin mukaan Suomeen tuli turvapaikanhakijoita Venäjältä vuonna 2007 kaikkiaan 172 henkilöä, vuonna 2008 yhteensä 209 henkilöä, ja vuonna 2009 peräti 602 henkilöä.

Taustalla on Venäjän Federaation alueella yhä heikentyvä ihmisoikeustilanne, josta EU joutuu kantamaan oman vastuunsa. Tosin Venäjän maahanmuuttoviraston mukaan 44 % venäläisistä pakolaisista olisi muista IVY-maista tulleita venäjänkielisiä pakolaisia. Tämä väite ei ole kovin uskottava, sillä Eurostatin tilastointi rakentuu kansallisuuteen eikä kieleen. Kenties Venäjä ennakoi tulevaa historiankirjoitusta ja tilastoi jo tänään pohjoiskaukasialaiset ulkomaalaisiksi?

Lähteet: Eurostat, Pakolaisneuvonta, RIA Novosti

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Filed under // Asylum Chechnya EU Finland Human Rights Ingushetia North Caucasus

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Jan 25 / 3:03am

"United Circassia no threat to Russia"

by Kerkko Paananen

A unified Circassian republic is no threat to the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, a leading Circassian organization says. However, Moscow’s maintenance or even exacerbation of Soviet-imposed divisions could well present the country with serious problems, according to a leading Russian analyst of the North Caucasus.

In November 2009, an extraordinary congress of the Circassian people in Karachayevo-Cherkessia adopted a resolution for unification, which Russian officials rejected out of hand. Vladimir Ustinov, presidential plenipotentiary in the Southern Federal District, said the unification of the Circassians would lead to “the dismemberment of the region.”

Mukhammed Cherkessov, head of the Adyge Khase organization, stressed that “none of the Cherkess, Kabards, and Adygeys want to leave Russia.” Circassians want to become more integrated in Russia and want ethnic Russians living among them to “remain living on the territory of the republic as a stabilizing factor.”

Caucasus analyst Sergey Markedonov suggests that the Circassian “problem” may now get worse: “The harsh technocratic decisions taken by a narrow group of people without discussion or an appreciation of human psychology and ethno-cultural factors can lead not to the desired stabilization but rather toward entirely different outcomes.”

http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2010/01/window-on-eurasia-unified-circassia.html

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Filed under // Adygea Caucasus Circassia Kabardino-Balkaria Karachay-Cherkessia North Caucasus Russia

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Jan 20 / 1:39am

"Dagestan is permanently on the brink of civil war"

by Kerkko Paananen

The incidence of terrorist attacks in Dagestan has spiked in the new year, with only a month to go until the term of Dagestan’s incumbent president Mukhu Aliyev expires. On 8 January 2010, Russia’s leadership demanded tangible results in the counter-terrorism operation in the North Caucasus. Since then, five militants have been killed, including one said to be an important leader in the Dagestan insurgency. But is this really likely to slow the Islamist insurgency? And will the appointment of a new president further fan the flames in the republic?

http://russiaprofile.com/page.php?pageid=Politics&articleid=a1263322702

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Filed under // Caucasus Dagestan North Caucasus Russia

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Jan 19 / 11:16pm

Russia establishes North-Caucasian Federal District

by Kerkko Paananen


Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has established a new federal district in Muslim-dominated North Caucasus. The President appointed Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin, governor of the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk and former board chairman of Norilsk Nickel, to head the North-Caucasian Federal District. The new federal district comprises Russia's volatile republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachay-Cherkessia, as well as the Stavropol region, with the administrative centre in Pyatigorsk.

http://rt.com/Politics/2010-01-19/north-caucasus-federal-district.html

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Filed under // Caucasus Chechnya Dagestan Ingushetia Kabardino-Balkaria Karachay-Cherkessia Medvedev North Caucasus North Ossetia Russia

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Jan 13 / 10:39pm

Medvedev to further destabilize North Caucasus

by Mikael Storsjö

President Dmitry Medvedev's call for Russian security forces to track down and kill militants in the North Caucasus will further destabilize this situation there, experts say, both because his words give a green light for even more violence by the force structures and because they highlight Moscow's willingness to ignore the Russian Constitution.

Isalmagomed Nabiyev, a Daghestani rights activists and independent union leader, told the Caucasian Knot yesterday that he was extremely disturbed by what Medvedev has said. Here is "the leader of the government, a professional lawyer, the guarantor of the Constitution" urging the security forces to be more violent and to ignore the Constitution and its protections!

But this violence is only "one side of the problem," Nabiyev says. If Russians do not protest this violation of the Constitutional order, then, "a similar fate awaits all Russians since the powers that be are becoming ever more totalitarian, and Daghestan and the North Caucasus [represent only] a litmus test of public reaction."

Ruslan Kurbanov, another specialist on the North Caucasus, agreed: "The imperfections of the judicial system are not a justification for allowing the violation of Constitutional principles and laws. Tomorrow, any individual, citing the corrupt nature of [Russian] justice can get involved in extrajudicial punishments."

In that event, he asked rhetorically, "who will explain [to the people of the country] the difference between the extrajudicial actions of such people and the extrajudicial actions of the Russian force structures?"

http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2010/01/window-on-eurasia-medvedevs-call-for.html

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Filed under // Chechnya Medvedev North Caucasus Russia

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