"East" is a big deal

Ramzan Kadyrov launched an open offensive against a battalion of the Russian Ministry of Defense

The conflict around the special battalion of the Russian Ministry of Defense "Vostok" - the only security force remaining in Chechnya that is not subordinate to President Ramzan Kadyrov - yesterday entered the open stage. The head of the republic publicly accused the commander of Vostok, Russian army lieutenant colonel Sulim Yamadayev - like Mr. Kadyrov, who has the title of Hero of Russia - and his brothers of involvement in serious crimes. Ramzan Kadyrov also stated the inadmissibility of open disregard for the law, which is allegedly committed by both the Yamadayevs themselves and the Vostok fighters.

The “public of Chechnya,” represented by the Commissioner for Human Rights in the republic, Nurdi Nukhazhiev, the Public Chamber of Chechnya and the Council of Non-Governmental Human Rights Organizations, in turn, issued a statement in which they accused Vostok employees of rebellion. These organizations reserved the right, in the event of failure to take effective measures against the Vostok battalion by the prosecutor's office and the military command, to undertake "mass protests in defense of the constitutional order in the republic."

Thus, the President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and the security forces loyal to him launched an open offensive against the Vostok battalion, the Vostok commander Sulim Yamadayev and his brothers. Until yesterday, the conflict developed in an information vacuum - around “Vostok” the local police carried out active maneuvers and special events (which resulted in deaths), but none of the politicians commented on these actions. The Vostok battalion itself only stated the “unfriendly” actions of the Chechen police, but at the same time avoided political assessments and comments, limiting itself to saying that these are provocations that it is not clear who needs them and it is not clear who is behind them.

Yesterday, after statements by Ramzan Kadyrov and the “Chechen public”, official answers were given to these questions (though more rhetorical, since everyone understood the background of what was happening, simply not daring to call a spade a spade). However, even after this, none of the representatives of the federal center responded to the events in Gudermes. As a result, the conflict continued to rapidly escalate.

There have been similar “conflicts of interests” in Chechnya before. Ramzan Kadyrov has recently managed to either bring under his control or neutralize the structures operating in Chechnya, but not subordinate to him - the famous ORB-2 of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the operational combat group "Highlander" of the FSB, etc. These issues were "resolved" either by changing their superiors, or by openly using force, as was the case with the commander of the “Highlander” Movladi Baysarv, whom Chechen police officers who arrived in Moscow shot him in broad daylight in the city center, calling it an attempt to detain him. However, in all those cases we were talking about structures that were in a rather difficult position - some were at least partially subordinate to the local Ministry of Internal Affairs, others were at the stage of disbandment.

In this case, we are actually talking about the opposition of the regional authorities to a regular unit of the Ministry of Defense, and not an ordinary one, but one directly subordinate to the General Staff and the GRU. It is clear that people from these structures are not used to just “giving up”; they act according to their orders and regulations.

However, yesterday the military also remained silent. Giving a public response to the accusations made by Ramzan Kadyrov’s administration against the leadership and fighters of the Vostok battalion means interfering in the relationship between the federal center and Mr. Kadyrov. And these rules were established by the Kremlin and the administration of President Vladimir Putin. So the military command simply did not want to take on such great responsibility. As a result, only the political leadership of the country can probably “settle” the situation. However, its representatives, now primarily concerned with how the transfer of power from Vladimir Putin to the newly elected President Medvedev will take place, still have not shown themselves in any way.

One can only guess what will happen first - either the highest authorities will finally pay attention to the events in Gudermes, or the military and Chechen police will break down (neither of them will be able to remain idle for long in such a nervous situation) and will begin full-fledged military operations. Who pulls the trigger first and how justifiably, then it won’t matter. The main thing is that both will act, in their opinion, completely justifiably - either by stopping unlawful actions (Ramzan Kadyrov), or by observing the regulations for military service (Vostok battalion).

As the Vremya Novostei newspaper reported in the previous issue, the situation around the Vostok battalion began to escalate on Monday after a series of clashes between its fighters and the local police and the president’s guards. As a result, at least five Vostok employees were killed. One of the incidents occurred with the direct participation of Ramzan Kadyrov and Sulim Yamadayev’s younger brother, Badruddi. The motorcade of the head of the republic and the column of Vostok fighters returning from the funeral of their comrades did not pass each other on the same road, and the guards - whose exactly it is not yet clear - opened fire in the air.

Soon after this incident, reinforced units of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs began to be deployed to Gudermes, where the Vostok battalion is stationed. They blocked Vostok and began to carry out “unfriendly” actions against its fighters - document checks, detentions, etc. The Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs and other departments initially denied that anything unusual was happening in Gudermes. But yesterday Ramzan Kadyrov personally dotted the i’s.

A message was posted on his official website about Mr. Kadyrov’s meeting that took place yesterday with the leaders of the republic’s security bloc, dedicated to the situation around the “East”. It was noted that “Badrudi Yamadayev, convicted in 2003 for robbery and attempted murder, is now free.” “How could it turn out that a person sentenced to prison by the court ended up free?” - Mr. Kadyrov was indignant.

The incident of a meeting between Mr. Kadyrov’s motorcade and the “Vostok” column led by Badrudi Yamadayev was regarded in the message as “an attempt to prevent the President of the Chechen Republic from fulfilling his official duties,” which was led by the “prisoner Yamadayev.”

After describing the crimes of Badrudi Yamadayev, the message also cited other “crimes” of the Vostok battalion. Mention was also made of an unauthorized operation in the village of Borozdinovskaya on June 4, 2005, as a result of which two local residents died and 12 were missing, and a raid by Vostok fighters led by Sulim Yamadayev himself on the Samson meat processing plant in St. Petersburg on September 15 2006. During the latest story, the director of Samson was beaten and was forced to sign documents to settle a dispute with another company, but then this criminal case was closed “due to the reconciliation of the parties.”

Also, as indicated in the message, Sulim Yamadayev, according to the head of Chechnya, was related to another crime - the disappearance of the brothers of the president of MIB Bank Abubakar Arsamakov on February 8, 2007 in Chechnya. “The meeting participants also expressed dissatisfaction with the activities of the Vostok battalion, since servicemen of the battalion have recently increasingly become involved in criminal plots and criminal cases,” the report notes. Summing up the meeting, the President of Chechnya emphasized: “The law must rule in our republic. And we will not allow such disregard for the law on anyone’s part.”

The message about a meeting in the office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Chechen Republic, Nurdi Nukhazhiev, under the heading “They will have to answer for their atrocities before the law,” looked even more menacing. It says, in particular: “On April 14, 2008, the unit (Vostok battalion) tried to prevent the President of the Chechen Republic from exercising his constitutional powers and resisted law enforcement agencies in ensuring the rule of law. All over the world this is called rebelling against legitimate authority and rebellion. Representatives of the battalion engaged in extortion against the civilian population and heads of local administrations. In the eyes of the population of the republic, the Vostok battalion has long become the personification of punishers, and not defenders of citizens.”

Few people decided to officially comment on these statements yesterday. Former State Duma deputy, elder brother of the commander of the Vostok battalion Ruslan Yamadayev (by the way, also a Hero of Russia) told Vremya Novostey about the accusations brought by Kadyrov against his family: “He says that about everyone he doesn’t like. Pick up the newspapers and see for yourself. Kadyrov also called the former head of ORB-2, Akhmed Khasanbekov, a criminal. And as a result, he managed to achieve the replacement of the obstinate Khasanbekov with the loyal Isa Surguev. Regarding the situation around Vostok, I am sure that the Ministry of Defense will sort everything out, because the battalion is their unit, and they will not give it any offense.”

A representative of the Vostok battalion itself said yesterday: “Kadyrov doesn’t like the fact that we don’t obey him, so he calls us criminals.” He also noted that, according to their information, Sulim Yamadayev himself, who had been undergoing treatment for the last few days, left for Gudermes on Wednesday and should appear at the unit’s location in the near future. Including to answer the accusations brought against him by the President of the Republic.

A statement was made yesterday by the head of the Main Directorate of Combat Training and Troop Service of the Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant General Vladimir Shamanov, who in the 90s commanded the United Group of Forces (OGV) in Chechnya. He did not give an assessment of the situation in Gudermes, touching only on one episode. “There was no skirmish between servicemen of the Vostok battalion of the Ministry of Defense under the command of Sulim Yamadayev and the security of the President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov,” the general said. — All the circumstances of the accident are being clarified, during which several vehicles of the Vostok battalion drove into the president’s motorcade. This caused an aggravation of the situation. “Thanks to the measures taken by the commander of the OGV and the commander of the 42nd motorized rifle division, the situation has been stabilized and is under absolute control.”

However, according to an officer of the Vostok battalion, yesterday the situation around their unit remained difficult. The bulk of the military personnel were at the battalion's location; on Monday the personnel were transferred to barracks status. At the same time, the location of “Vostok” remained virtually blocked by units of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs. And the leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the security of the President of Chechnya continued to actively agitate the Vostok fighters to leave it and go to serve in the local police. “They still go to our guys’ houses and threaten us to force them to join them. Thus, it seems like about 70 people transferred. But they did it not voluntarily, but because they were forced. According to our data, on Tuesday Kadyrov’s men detained about 40 of our fighters, they were taken to the police department and forced to write statements.”

According to a Vostok representative, the commander of the North Caucasus Military District arrived in Gudermes yesterday. “Only he is able to influence the current situation; the rest of the command was unable to control it - everyone is afraid. But we still have an order not to succumb to provocations, and we are fulfilling it,” said a battalion representative.

The Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs spoke little and contradictorily about the events in Gudermes. Some claimed that a special operation was taking place there to search and detain Badrudi Yamadayev. Others say that there is no special operation. According to a representative of Vostok, Badrudi is no longer in the republic, but the police continued to actively search for him yesterday: “In the afternoon, riot police and police broke into the house of the Yamadayevs’ mother on Maxim Gorky Street, and complete chaos began there. Sulim Yamadayev's relatives were literally dragged out into the street, without explaining anything or showing any documents for a search. And if the day before there were generals and prosecutors there, now there is no one.”

In turn, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Chechnya Roman Edilov told Vremya Novostei: “There were no clashes or confrontations in Gudermes. Police units were looking for Badrudi Yamadayev there. In Moscow they gave him 25 years, and he should be in prison, but he walks around the Gudermes district, he is a drug addict and does what he wants. It was to restore order that the police were deployed. And the leadership of the prosecutor’s office, the FSB and the military were invited to see what was going on there.”

As for the accusations brought by Mr. Kadyrov against the Yamadayev brothers and the battalion fighters, they do not contain anything new. All the reported cases, including crimes, have long been known, criminal cases were initiated on them, some of which are still being investigated, some were closed, and in others people were convicted.

True, the question remains unclear as to why Badrudi Yamadayev (who, by the way, is not a Vostok serviceman) was released. He was sentenced by the Moscow City Court to 12 years of strict regime in May 2003. He, as well as Sharip Dzhabrailov and Suleyman Saygatkhadzhiev, were accused of a raid on the Kundum store in July 2000 and an attempt on the life of Moscow's chief sanitary doctor Alexander Melnikov in June of the same year. In September 2003, the Supreme Court (SC) reduced Yamadayeva's sentence by a year. Soon, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed a protest with the Supreme Court against Dzhabrailov’s sentence, who received 10 years, due to the fact that his case was investigated by the “main werewolves of the country” - employees of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, who themselves ended up in the dock. In September 2005, the Presidium of the Supreme Court reviewed this case by way of supervision. And although the prosecutor’s office’s proposal was rejected, the Supreme Court reclassified the charges against Dzhabrailov to more lenient ones, and the convict was able to be released. But the sentence to Yamadayev was upheld. The lawyers who then represented the interests of Yamadayev and his accomplices did not explain how he was able to be free, citing bad memory, but noted that this happened “in strict accordance with the law.”

Yulia MAKSIMOVA, Eduard LOMOVTSEV, Victor PAUKOV