WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 11 CONTENTS
(1) EDITORIAL: The Fall of Yandex
(2) EDITORIAL: Putin’s Russia Fails Again
(3) Narcotics and the Russian Ostrich
(6) Oleg Kozlovsky’s Wedding Album
NOTE: Oleg Kozlovsky reports that leading human rights activists Lev Ponomaryov and Lyudmila Alexeeva are being evicted by the Russian government from their offices in yet another nail in the coffin of democracy in Russia.
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4 responses so far ↓
Robert // November 9, 2009 at 8:50 am |
Violence in Chechnya has Spiked Since “Counter-Terrorist” Operation’s End
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 205
November 6, 2009 11:18 AM Age: 2 days
Category: Eurasia Daily Monitor, North Caucasus Analysis, Home Page, Domestic/Social, Military/Security, Terrorism, North Caucasus , Russia
By: The Jamestown Foundation
November 3 marked the 200th day since the Russian government formally ended the “counter-terrorist” operation it launched in Chechnya in September 1999, and statistics collected by the Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot) website show that more blood has been spilled since the April 16 announcement of the operation’s end than during the 200 days leading up to it.
According to the website, at least 208 people were killed and 157 wounded in Chechnya between April 16 and November 3, and particularly noteworthy was the rebels’ revival of the use of suicide bombers. During that 200 day period, there were at least 92 shootouts between the rebels and security forces, in which reportedly 120 rebels were killed, 110 were captured and six surrendered. By way of comparison, in the 200 days before the counter-terrorist operation regime in Chechnya was lifted, there were 42 shootouts in which 32 rebels were killed, 87 were captured and 13 surrendered.
Kavkazsky Uzel noted that relatives of slain rebels are forbidden from burying them in the republic’s cemeteries or holding wakes for them. “The friends and family of members of the armed resistance, like the militants themselves, have effectively been declared outside the law in Chechnya,” an anonymous activist with a Chechen human rights organization told the website, adding “They can be killed, their houses can be set on fire; they can be abducted, detained, beaten and tortured.” As the website noted, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has frequently said that not only should the parents and relatives of militants be held responsible for their actions, but also their entire teip (clan).
On the other side of the ledger, at least 71 members of the police and other security forces in Chechnya were killed and 144 wounded in shootouts during the 200 days between April 16 and November 3. During the 200 days before the counter-terrorism operation in the republic was formally ended, 20 members of the Chechen police and other security forces were killed and 75 wounded.
At least 29 Chechen civilians were abducted and 17 murdered in the 200 days after the counter-terrorism operation in the republic was formally ended. In the 200 days before it was ended, seven civilians were abducted and six were murdered. Kavkazsky Uzel noted that the figures on the number of abductions and murders of civilians in Chechnya were not exact because the Memorial human rights group, which had been tracking such incidents, ceased its operations in Chechnya following the July 15 murder of its Grozny-based activist, Natalya Estemirova.
Since April 16, 32 civilians were wounded in terrorist bombings and shootouts in Chechnya. In the 200 days prior to April 16, 12 civilians were wounded in terrorist bombings and shootouts in the republic. According to Kavkazsky Uzel’s count, there have been 48 bombings and other terrorist acts in Chechnya since April 16, compared with 28 such incidents in the 200 days leading up to the cancellation of the counter-terrorist operation. Moreover, there have been ten suicide bombings and one thwarted suicide bombing in Chechnya since April 16, while there were no suicide bombings during the previous 200 days (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 3).
Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov offered his own statistics this week, declaring during a meeting in Grozny of republican law enforcement chiefs and Chechen interior ministry special forces commanders on November 2 that 144 members of “illegal armed formations” had been killed as a result of counter-insurgency operations the North Caucasus since April 20 of this year, and that 118 of them were killed in Chechnya (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 3).
However, Kavkazsky Uzel noted: “Representatives of local non-governmental organizations, for their part, believe that far from all those killed in Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan or North Ossetia during that period were members of the armed underground. In the opinion of human rights activists, it is still not uncommon in the region for siloviki to pass off as members of the armed resistance people who in fact have nothing to do with them” (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, November 3).
Kadyrov, meanwhile, told the republican law enforcement chiefs and Chechen interior ministry special forces commanders assembled on November 2 that they should focus on searching for and capturing rebel leaders or killing them if they resist capture. In what may have been an expression of impatience with the republic’s siloviki, Kadyrov said that the results of the fight against the “remnants” of the rebels have been impressive but that this fight “cannot go on endlessly.” He said that the “bandit ringleaders” must be tracked down and eliminated in order to stop young people from “going to the mountains” –that is, joining the rebels (Interfax, November 2).
In what may be in part a sign of the degree of alarm that the deteriorating security situation in the North Caucasus is causing in Moscow, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported on October 29 that the military plans to create a new operational command on the basis of the 58th army deployed in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, which will consist of seven mechanized infantry brigades and one tank brigade. According to the newspaper, this means that the number of military units operating in the North Caucasus Military District will increase substantially (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 29).
Ari Virtanen // November 9, 2009 at 9:28 am |
On 8th of November 2009 there was a commemoration in Helsinki, Finland. People gathered to the place where RuSSians killed 51 civilians, mostly women and children, on 8th of November 1942. RuSSians bombed Helsinki destroying homes and killing innocent civilians. Their purpose was to bomb civilian targets and kill as many civilians as possible.
Robert // November 9, 2009 at 2:53 pm |
Putin nostalgic for days as spy in East Germany
http://www.smh.com.au/world/putin-nostalgic-for-days-as-spy-in-east-germany-20091109-i5ek.html
MOSCOW: Russia’s Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, says he feels nostalgia for the former East Germany, recalling with fondness his five years as a KGB agent in Dresden.
(…)
”We had many contacts not only with our colleagues from the Ministry for State Security [Stasi] but from other areas,” he said, recalling excursions to the mountains at Christmas.
The Prime Minister said he found the sight of the Berlin Wall ”unnatural and unreal”. But he blamed the Soviet Union’s Western allies in World War II for the postwar division of Germany, saying that under Stalin ”Soviet diplomacy never set the task of the division of Germany”.
(…)
Despite the burden of World War II, Moscow enjoys better ties with Berlin than most other European states and they enjoy a key trade relationship.
”Whatever happens in Germany domestically there is a definite national consensus on the development of the relationship with Russia,” Mr Putin said.
He called the former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder ”my friend”. But he also had ”remarkable, very good personal and business relations” with his successor, Angela Merkel, even though she is from another party.
”There is an understanding that we need each other. And that is the main thing.”
Andrew // November 11, 2009 at 6:07 am |
It seems the Russian economy might be about to have a real bad day if the following article is correct.
International Energy Agency Predicts Natural Gas Prices To Fall
November 10, 2009
By Charles Recknagel
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the world is facing an oversupply of natural gas and predicts gas prices will fall in coming years.
The Paris-based IEA says in its annual World Energy Outlook, published today, that global gas supplies are rising faster than demand.
The report states that “global gas markets have evolved from a seller’s market, driven by tight supply and demand, to a buyer’s market as demand weakens while new supply comes onstream.” It says weakening demand is a consequence of the global economic crisis.
Equally important is an unexpected boom in North American gas production, thanks to new drilling techniques, which is expected to contribute to a glut in supplies.
The report says that by 2015, for example, there will be a dramatic overcapacity of gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.
The agency predicts that the oversupply of gas will be even greater if countries press ahead with plans to save energy and develop more renewable electricity and nuclear power.
Depend Upon Exports
The report says that environmental policies alone could reduce demand for gas by 5 percent by 2015 and 17 percent by 2030 compared with a business-as-usual scenario.
Some of the countries most likely to be affected by a falling market for natural gas are Russia, Iran, and Qatar.
The three countries, which control the world’s biggest gas reserves, depend upon gas exports for major portions of their foreign revenues. They also have invested heavily in infrastructure to move increasing amounts of gas to market in coming years.
The IEA, an autonomous agency linked to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), advises 28 industrialized countries about energy supplies and the global energy market. Its reports are influential in helping many of the world richest states set their energy policies.
The report notes that market demand for gas in the EU will continue to rise in the coming years but the increased will be much less than previously thought.
That would be a setback particularly for Russia, which for the past 25 years has been Europe’s single biggest gas supplier.
A drop in demand would erode the power state-controlled Gazprom has accumulated over both consuming and transit countries in the region in recent years.
It also could complicate Moscow’s financial situation at a time when it is already reeling from the global economic crisis
The World Bank separately predicted today that the Russian economy will contract 8.7 percent in 2009.
http://www.rferl.org/content/International_Energy_Agency_Predicts_Natural_Gas_Prices_To_Fall/1874095.html