| Akhmed Zakayev is recalled home from Europe The Minister of Culture of the so-called government of Ichkeria (in fact, the Chechen separatist government in exile) Akhmed Zakayev, whose extradition the Russian Prosecutor General's Office unsuccessfully sought over the past three years from the authorities of Denmark, Great Britain and Germany, may be recalled from Europe by his immediate superiors.
Last weekend, three decrees of the so-called Ichkerian President Abdul-Khalim Sadullayev were published on separatist websites on the Internet. The decrees concern changes in the structure of the “Cabinet of Ministers”, some personnel issues, as well as the location of government members. It says, in particular, that “all first heads of ministries and departments” must be on the territory of Ichkeria, and only their deputies with specific travel assignments have the right to go outside its borders. This means that Mr. Zakaev and some of his less eminent colleagues in the “cabinet” will soon be faced with a choice - to return illegally to Chechnya and live underground, or to continue their stay in Europe, but without titles and ranks.
The separatist president, who became the “successor” of Aslan Maskhadov after the latter was eliminated on March 8, 2005, is seeking to give his cabinet the most militant appearance. He abolished the foreign policy and humanitarian blocs, which Akhmed Zakayev supervised as Deputy Prime Minister. The latter, accordingly, has ceased to be Deputy Prime Minister - now he remains only the Minister of Culture, and only on the condition of a speedy return to his homeland. Two more well-known separatist politicians have been relieved of their positions - Minister of Health Umar Khanbiev and Minister of Information and Press Movladi Udugov. Umar Khanbiev is the brother of Magomed Khanbiev. The latter was considered one of the highest-ranking Ichkerian military leaders until the spring of 2004, then surrendered to Akhmat Kadyrov, and in November last year he was elected to the Chechen parliament from the Union of Right Forces and now works in the local commission for searching for missing persons together with another retiree - a general of the Russian army Ibragim Suleimenov. By the way, it was Umar Khanbiev who was the first to report that the reason for the surrender of the former Ichkerian defense minister could have been the capture of several of his relatives by Kadyrov’s security forces.
As for Movladi Udugov, who has long been considered the main propagandist of the most radical wing of the Chechen resistance, he, having left the post of Minister of Press, was immediately appointed to the post of “Director of the National Information Service” under the so-called “State Defense Committee - Majlisul Shura of Ichkeria” . Comments on the decrees published by the “presidential press service” say that Abdul-Halim Sadullayev was concerned about the discussion about the future structure of Chechnya, which some separatist leaders have recently publicly conducted, in particular Movladi Udugov and Akhmed Zakaev. Judging by the personnel changes that took place, Mr. Udugov won the discussion, inclined to see the future of Chechnya as a Sharia state. And Mr. Zakaev, who was more inclined to support the secular liberal-democratic project, lost the discussion. He himself, however, told a number of agencies yesterday that, if necessary, he is ready to return to the territory of Chechnya. However, experts familiar with him personally, whom a Vremya Novostey correspondent contacted yesterday, believe that “the current successors of the Maskhadov regime cannot have anything in common with him”: “The sand was waking up, the doors were closed. Since Abdul-Halim Sadullayev announced the transfer of hostilities to the territory of the entire North Caucasus, he thereby identified himself with Basayev and cannot be considered Maskhadov’s successor.” Let us recall that last year, representatives of the armed fundamentalist underground of a number of North Caucasian republics took the so-called bayat - a kind of oath to “Sheikh Abdul-Halim”, who from the very beginning of his reign is considered the protege of “terrorist number one” Shamil Basayev. Ivan SUKHOV |
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