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| Caucasus | ||
| Chechen krazed killers have a base in Baku | ||
| 2004-01-05 | ||
| Via PanARMENIAN.net and I have no way to judge the credibility of this, given the long-standing hatred between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. So while this could be just propaganda, this could also serve as the source of some interesting information. According to the statement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Azerbaijani authorities are aware of this but do not take any measures to prevent financing of terrorism. The law-enforcement bodies of Russia have revealed new facts confirming the close ties between the Chechen terrorists and Azerbaijan. The regional operative headquarters of anti-terrorist operations has spread recently information that in Baku there is a fund financing the activity of extremist groups operating in the Northern Caucasus. Immediately after, the Russian Ministry of Interior publicized a statement reading about the successful operation on reveal of the channels of financing. The Ministry of Interior of Russia assures that the trace of the sponsors reaches the capital city of Azerbaijan. We already knew that the Chechens had a command center set up in Baku, though that was purported shut down after the nastiness at the Moscow theater. Somehow, I doubt the funding for the Chechen jihad originates in Azerbaijan ... The employees of the operative headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation managed to find a confirmation of their information thanks to the arrest of a soldier, Rizvan. If this is true, my guess is that he was one of the Arabs captured recently up in Dagestan. According to him, the Islamic fund ââAssalamââ operating in Baku finances several criminal groups terrorizing the inhabitants of Nozhai-Yurt and Vedeno regions of the Chechen Republic. Another front operation, no doubt, plus all the mob connections for good measure. I wonder if this is the same mob circuit that Arbi Barayev used to run? ââThe above-mentioned fund provides finance assistance to the soldiers that live in Baku or pass a course of medical treatment there,ââ the release spread by the press-service of the Ministry of Interior reads. It is stressed that according to evidences of Rizvan, ââthe Azerbaijani authorities are aware of the activity of the fund of âAssalamâ but still do not undertake any measures for its liquidationââ. The question then becomes whether they support it or just look the other way. Even the officials of Aliyev administration do not deny the fact that in Baku there are structures financing the terrorists. The Minister of National Security Namik Abbasov said one of these days that he did not rule out the possibility of such informationââ. However, it is difficult to understand, what can this mean, but in any case it is evident that the ââAssalamââ foundation is functioning not for the first year. In this sense the statement of the head of the department of registration of juridical persons of the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry Fazil Mamedov is very interesting: he confirmed the fact that in 2000 the administration of the fund has made an application for official registration. The law enforcement bodies did not undertake anything to prevent the illegal activity of the fund financing the terrorism.
BIF was yet another al-Qaeda front designed to funnel money to the Caucasus jihadis, though it was shut down (at least in the US) and its founder arrested. The leader of the âBenevolence International Foundationâ Enaam Arnault confirmed this information. That would be him. However, up to now Baku remains one of the biggest points of sending arms and money for terrorist in Chechnya. The law enforcement bodies or cannot, or do not want to prevent these activity. All these cause the dissatisfaction of Russian authorities. According to the commentators, as result of the indifference of Azerbaijani Special Forces, a visa regime may be introduced by Moscow. This issue is being already raised in the State Duma. If thatâs the case, then the buck will ultimately stop with Putin the way that most things do in the Russian Federation.
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| Posted by:Dan Darling |