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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Ramzan Kadyrov cementing local power base |
| 2005-12-20 |
| He is 29 years old, bearded, exhorts his troops to fight in the name of Allah and speaks Russian with a heavy Chechen accent. Not long ago, that would have perfectly described one of Moscow's most bitter foes. But now, while his former comrades-in-arms dodge troops in the Chechen mountains, Ramzan Kadyrov is a hero of Russia, a frequent guest of President Vladimir Putin and regional leader of the pro-Kremlin political party. Kadyrov is officially deputy prime minister of Chechnya but observers say the Kremlin has made him de facto leader -- something, they add, it may come to regret. Kadyrov's every move dominates local television reports. When his first son was born last month, the region enjoyed a public holiday -- marked by all-night salutes of machinegun fire that left civilians cowering in their basements. His portraits stare down from the pocked walls of apartment blocks in Grozny, the shattered capital of Chechnya, interspersed with posters of Putin pinning Russia's highest decoration to his chest. "I am not a prima donna, but when people respect you, that's always nice," Kadyrov told Reuters. "If I were to say I did not like to feel myself a popular man, then I'd be lying." Kadyrov's power is based on his control of thousands of irregular troops -- like him, former rebels, and nicknamed the 'kadyrovtsy'. Rights activists accuse him of using kidnapping, murder and torture to cement his rule. many Chechens do not care. They say only extreme measures can end a war that has raged for 11 years and claimed tens of thousands of lives -- including Kadyrov's father, who led the region until his assassination last year. "In such a situation, you have to be tough. Look at all these soldiers. We need a little Stalin, he needs to be even tougher," said Said, 33, a Chechen in Grozny. Russia sent troops to crush an independence drive in the Muslim southern region in 1994, but had to pull out two years later after a series of bloody defeats. Putin sent the army back in 1999 and has pledged repeatedly to wipe out "terrorist" groups who seek to break from Russia. Few observers doubt that when Kadyrov turns 30 -- the minimum age to become Chechen president -- he will follow his father into the region's top job. "The Kremlin has artificially strengthened his position because it is concentrating on one clan so as to maintain Russian control (over Chechnya)," said Alexei Mukhin, director of the Centre of Political Information think tank. "Practically he already has his own state, it is a separate state that is loyal to the Kremlin. The danger is if he moves to set up a state not loyal to the Kremlin." Last week, Chechen members of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party that dominates the region's recently elected parliament voted to make Kadyrov its regional head despite observers questioning his democratic credentials. "Having these kind of people around -- Ramzan, I mean -- with these kinds of attitudes, it is disturbing and works against the good intentions that the majority of the country has," said Morten Messerschmidt, a Danish member of parliament who visited Chechnya to observe last month's elections. According to Russian human rights groups, Kadyrov's rule is based on fear. They accuse his troops of mass human rights abuses in his quest to crush opposition. "Chechenisation - i.e. handing over of responsibility, including for the conduct of "anti-terrorist" operations, from the federal to the local authorities - of the conflict has not brought peace to the Chechen Republic," rights groups, including Memorial, said in a joint report published last month. "It has resulted in the brutalisation of the warring sides and pervasive fear and insecurity for civilians ... The emergence of pro-Kremlin armed groups, only partly controlled by the government, creates conditions for new spirals of violence." Chechnya's rebels call Kadyrov a stooge of Moscow, and say the power of his forces would collapse if Russia pulled out its 100,000 troops. "They are not a threat for the future of Chechnya. If you imagine Russian forces leaving Chechnya, then these bands will have no chance," said rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev recently. Some Russian soldiers in Chechnya think Kadyrov's efforts to secure control are simply serving his own interests. "If you have one of the kadyrovtsy, a rebel and a Russian together, then they'll kill the Russian. They all have relatives in the hills," said one soldier, before breaking into a joke about Kadyrov meeting a lion on the streets of Grozny and disputing its title to be "king of the beasts". "I'm the king of the beasts, you're just some animal," the punchline has Kadyrov telling the lion. Kadyrov himself says his critics are lying, and accuses some of siding with separatists. He swears to defeat the rebels, particularly leader Shamil Basayev. "I know that one duty stands before me, that is to find and destroy Basayev. There are times, when I find myself on his tracks, but he escapes from under my very feet," he said. Basayev masterminded the conflict's bloodiest attacks -- including the hostage siege in Beslan last year when 330 people, half of them children, died -- but Kadyrov said the rebels had now been neutralised. "There is no threat to the republic, the rebels have no strength. As for bandits and terrorists, we basically don't even have them. And Chechens are in an absolute minority in the current ranks of the rebels," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |