EDITORIAL
The Kremlin’s Sochi Lies Risk Lives
Here’s what Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of security for the Sochi Olympics in 2014, told Reuters last week: “Sochi is the summer residence of our president and prime minister, that says everything. This is one of the safest and most secure places in Russia and it’s the state with the highest security level.”
It was one of the most sensational and outrageous lies yet told by the malignant regime of Vladimir Putin, placing the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world in jeopardy and showing the absolute contempt with which Putin views basic values of honesty and integrity.
We reported on April 20th about the horrifying string of terrorist bombings that have been plaguing Sochi for more than a year now. Six Russians have been killed, 50 injured. But it seems Chernyshenko didn’t catch that day’s issue.
If Chernyshenko wasn’t lying, then he was ignorant of the bombings. Either way, this man obviously cannot be trusted with the precious, innocent lives of the world’s elite athletes. But, of course, he knew. He, and his Kremlin masters, are unwilling to face up honestly to the serious security issues presented by Sochi, and that means they can’t possibly take them seriously enough. In fact, they may not even understand them, so blinded are they by their need for propaganda. That puts not only the lives of Russian citizens at risk, but the lives of people throughout the world.
It’s telling that this maniac didn’t even try to give any crime statistics for Sochi. The fact is that being “one of the safest and most secure places in Russia” is hardly saying anything when the country is one of the most dangerous in the world, with appalling rates of murder, fire fatalities and airline disasters. A city that is one of Russia’s “safest” can still, easily, be one of the world’s most lethal.
And perhaps even more important, strapped for cash the Russian government is in no position to devote the necessary resources to preserving the athletes’ safety even if it were willing to acknowledge the need to do so. Incidents of terrorism have exploded in both Chechnya and Ingushetia, and nearby Ossetia and Abkhazia remain unstable, but the Kremlin is disengaging rather than engaging there, because it simply doesn’t have the cash. Even before the financial crisis struck, Russia’s management of the games was a classic neo-Soviet nightmare, and the crisis only ups the ante on the insanity. In fact, a cynic could easily make the argument that Chernyshenko’s statement had no purpose other than to avoid the need to spend more money on the Sochi games, money Russia simply doesn’t have.
All this means that the world is sending its athletes into a meat grinder of truly horrifying proportions.
The Kremlin’s minions continue this outrageous behavior, believing they can get away with it, because there is nobody to check them, just as was the case in Soviet times. Last week, the Moscow Times reported that the heroic journalists at Novaya Gazeta have not been paid in more than a month even though they are owned by a billionaire. The entire mainstream press corps, from the broadcast TV networks to the large national newspapers, are all in the Kremlin’s pocket. There are no true opposition parties in the Duma, and the Kremlin has direct control over local government. It has just recently orchestrated the Sochi mayoral elections to place its handpicked stooge in the seat of power.
So it’s impossible that Russians will correct the situation, indeed most won’t even be aware of it. For the world to send its athletes into this horrifically risky situation is the height of irresponsibility. The madness must end.
“Incidents of terrorism have exploded in both Chechnya and Ingushetia”
Actually I don’t remember any since the mysterious series of murders of non-Vainakh residents of Ingushetia in 2007 (not only Russians but also Ukrainians or even Koreans), of which nobody took responsibility for (and the rebels actually denied and accused the FSB).
Jamestown Foundation:
“(…) These are not easy questions to answer, since a wartime situation partially obscures the usually clear-cut moral differences between murder and a military operation. For example, the recent murders of non-Ingush persons looked like the handiwork of the guerrillas, since they had frequently stated that they would not tolerate the presence of “Russkies” in the Caucasus. But the murders have now expanded to encompass members of other ethnic groups, not just Russians, making the participation of the separatist underground far less likely. This is especially true after three officers of the Russian army were identified and arrested for the murder of a Russian family, but then later freed and transferred to another unit in Ossetia. The total lack of coverage of this incident by the Russian media clearly fits the information policy of the Kremlin. By making Russian society focus on the certainty that Ingush guerrillas are carrying out ethnic and religious cleansing, a solid rationale is provided for the military to begin mass repressions. Inside Ingushetia, however, the suspicion that Russian security services are responsible for non-Ingush murders has grown. Such ideas have been confirmed by the shooting death of an Ingush police officer immediately following the release of information regarding his investigation into the role of Russian military personnel in recent murders.”
Or maybe you just accepted the Russian definition of “terrorism”, like shooting-up a police checkpoint or burning home of local official.
LA RUSSOPHOBE RESPONDS:
“Or maybe you just accepted the Russian definition of ‘terrorism’, like shooting-up a police checkpoint or burning home of local official.”
We’re not sure those committing these acts have any particular problem with calling them “terrorism.” They want to terrorize Russians into abandoning their chokehold on their countries and give them freedom, because that’s the only option they see as being available to them. If you have an authoritative source indicating a different term that they prefer, please let us know we’d be quite interested to see it. Quite frankly, we could care less about the terminology. Want to call them “guerilla attacks”? Fine. We’d consider any attack on any target other than the Russian army to constitute “terrorism” as we’re using the term here.
Btw, a police officer and a TV journalist were also arrested in connection with the mysterious bombings in Sochi.
More about the Ingushetia murders:
“This year, a new wave of murders of ethnic Russians in Ingushetia began almost simultaneously with rebel attacks on police and Russian army facilities in the republic. What is strange is how the Russian media, usually under the firm control of the Kremlin, especially with regard to the topic of the Caucasus, has been covering the recent rise of violence in the republic. This summer, almost all newspapers and TV channels focused on the murders of the Russians, while much more serious events such as attacks on military garrisons were barely mentioned. When an additional 2,500 troops were sent to Ingushetia, the reason given for the troop increase was the rise in crime and attacks on Russians in the republic. It looked as if the Russian authorities had an interest in the attacks on Russians. The murders of Russians could be used for propaganda purposes since they helped shift public attention away from the serious rebel operations, which demonstrated the weakness of the Russian police and military forces and at the same time allowed the insurgents to be described as brutal inhumane criminals.
On September 3, the rebel Daymohk website posted a statement by the Ingush insurgents declaring that “we (the militants) do not distinguish people by ethnic origin and if people live quietly and do not take part in the struggle against Islam and Muslims, we do not have anything against them.” The rebels declared in the statement that the bomb that detonated during the funeral of Lyudmila Terekhina, a Russian teacher killed by masked armed men, was planted by Russian intelligence. They pointed to the fact that the explosion was filmed live by a journalist from the state-owned ORT TV channel. The rebels appealed to Russians by saying that their sons were sent to the Caucasus to die by the authorities who defend the interests of a small group, but not those of the Russian nation.
The murders of Russians continued and expanded in Ingushetia despite the statement by the rebels. After the murder of the Korean and Gypsy families, it was possible to talk about a demonstrative terror campaign against not only Russians, but all non-Muslim residents of Ingushetia. It is becoming more and more difficult to say who really has an interest in such killings.”
The Russian Army is not even really active there nowadays, stationed at their bases and not leaving them much. The VV (Internal Troops) and the other MVD forces are – and the FSB of course.
A sample picture of the VV (March 2000 in Grozny): http://lh6.ggpht.com/_rC_tZpQDn_c/SNN2uC4m9dI/AAAAAAAAFU0/ZsKiWUGAcJM/1649633.cecenija_rusai27.jpg