Vigilance from the newspaper "Russia"

On January 15, 2004, the newspaper "Rossiya" published an article by Igor Baksheev "Beach pastoral for terrorists", dedicated to the "anti-terrorist struggle" of the Primorye security forces.

The reason for the article was a statement by the head of the department of the operational-search bureau of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Far Eastern Federal Investigation, Alexander Gorbunov, who told reporters that "Chechen extremists are resting from the war on the beaches ... of the Sea of ​​Japan" . Such a "change of preferences", in his opinion, is due to the fact that in the Far East "people from the Caucasus" are quite loyal.

The journalist fully shares this point of view and complains (albeit with reference to the opinion of the same security officials) that "neither Primorye residents, nor Khabarovsk residents, nor Amur residents, nor residents of other regions of the region practically do anything to help internal affairs officials prevent possible terrorist acts . Activity among the local population wakes up for several days - only after another Russian disaster .

However, the special services are "watchful" even without the help of the population: "The fact that not a single terrorist attack has happened in the region so far is, perhaps, the merit of the local security forces. Today, in the Far Eastern Federal District, they also began to pay special attention to arriving people of the so-called Caucasian nationality. During the last special operation "Fatima", the purpose of which was to prevent the arrival of Chechen suicide bombers in the Far East, eighteen women were detained in Primorye alone. By the way, the appearance of one of the detainees made the policemen worry a lot. They noticed that there were no fingers on the Chechen woman's hands. confirmed the assumption of the operatives: the Chechen woman lost her fingers during the explosion, but not as a performer, but as a victim, eight years ago," writes I. Baksheev without any irony, concluding his article with another wonderful passage: "Another reason for the loyal attitude of privates people from the Far East to people from the Caucasus - in the Far East they capture and kidnap people more often to solve everyday problems" .

One can only sympathize with the journalist and the Far Eastern security officials (and at the same time sincerely rejoice for the inhabitants of Primorye) - the epidemic of Chechen and Caucasian phobia that has swept through European Russia has not yet reached them. I would really like to remind you that Chechnya is a subject of the Russian Federation. Chechens, as well as people from other regions of the Russian Caucasus, were not deprived of their citizenship and were not struck with their rights. And police checks, and even more so detentions based on ethnicity, have a very specific definition - "discrimination." Not to mention the fact that the mention of a "Chechen without fingers" in such a context is not only incorrect, but also dishonorable as a human being.

Sources

• Baksheev Igor. Beach pastoral for terrorists // Russia. 204. January 15