“I love Grozny and I love Kadyrov! ”says a member of the I love Chechnya Facebook group. “He changed my world!”
Ramzan Kadyrov (33) has caused a few very big changes in Russia’s restless Republic of Chechnya. Four years ago, the capital had only one traffic light. Today’s city has supermarkets, restaurants, new roads and an operating airport. But in the mean time, Russia’s opposition members are still disappearing mysteriously.
By all official counts, Kadyrov has been steadily gaining popularity since he took over the presidency just after turning 30 – the minimum age for the post.
But it is hard to know what the Chechens really think about their President. Only a very few dare to voice their doubts out loud, and most of those who do live outside Chechnya.
Criticism is very risky. “Chechnya is a very dark and sad place”, says Peter Bouckaert, Moscow director of Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The Chechnya security services are trying to silence any critic that remains.”
Last month alone, three activists were killed under suspect circumstances. Last week, Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband were found shot to death in their trunk of a suburb of the capital Grozny. They were kidnapped in the NGO organisation’s office by gunmen wearing camouflage uniforms. One of Chechnya's best known human rights activists, Natalya Estemerivoa got murdered a month before.
A year ago, Estemerivoa told the Los Angeles Times about Russia’s strong policy against its opposition. “A very, very big number of people disappear for several hours or several days and return home beaten up and psychologically broken. Most of them never say what happened to them. This is being seriously hushed up."
Over the last few month, there has been an increasing number of kidnappings and killings in Chechnya. “In many of these cases, there is clear evidence that President Kadyrov’s security forces have been directly responsible,” Bouckaert of HRW. “
Ramzan Kadyrov has not always been siding with Russia. During Chechnya’s first war for independence, Ranzan and his father Akhmed joined the rebel movement and fought against Russian federal forces.
At the beginning of the second Chechen war in 1999, the Kadyrovs swapped alliances and Akhmed was rewarded by Moscow with a high political post in 2000. Three years later, he became the first President of Chechnya but he got killed by a bomb explosion in 2004.
His son Ramzan says he was “15, maybe 16” when he led his first militia. A couple of years after his father died, he was voted the region's most powerful political figure, backed by a powerful security force. The Kremlin gave him almost unchecked authority in an attempt to return stability to the war-torn region.
According to the LA Times, Kadyrov told a reporter: "We used tough methods to show what's wrong and what's right. Against those who didn't understand, we led a tough and even cruel struggle. I've already killed who I should have killed... I will be killing as long as I live."
Bouckaert does not believe the killings will stop soon. “There is very few people who continue to monitor and criticise the very serious abuses that occurring Russia. One by one, they are being taken, abducted and killed,” he says.
Photo: Flickr (Lyalka)
Anti-war protests in Moscow: "Chechnya, forgive us", "We'll stand for Chechnya's freedom - protect free Russian Federation. Let all imperial ambitions die".
ChechenCenter.info