HEROINE OF ICHKERIA TO ANSWER FOR BUDENNOVSK
Moskovsky Komsomolets, October 3, 2001, p. 2
The trial of five members of Shamil Basaev’s gang, charged with carrying out the attack on Budennovsk in summer 1995, has started in the Stavropol Territory. The accused are Raisa Dundaeva, Aslan Yakubov, Salambek Daudov, Vakhit Aidamirov, and Saslambek Aidamirov. They are charged with terrorism, murder, banditry, and kidnapping.
The trial is closed to the media; it is not even permitted to take pictures of the guards and the court building.
Overall, the gang consisted of 162 people. Sixteen of them have been arrested and 42 have been traced and are now on the wanted list. The current hearing is the first one, but it will be followed by a series of such trials, since the General Prosecutor’s Office has instituted proceedings for over 1,000 episodes of the tragedy in Budennovsk.
Raisa Dundaeva was the person who raised the terrorists’ flag on the building of the Budennovsk hospital. Later she was awarded the title of national heroine of Ichkeria and presented with a house in Nakhimov Street in Grozny. In 1997, Basaev rewarded Dundaeva with the higest medal of Ichkeria. However, now Dundaeva is asserting that she did not shoot at anyone during the Budennovsk raid and did not wear Basaev’s medal, because she thought there was nothing to be proud of.
NOGA VERSUS PUTIN
Moskovsky Komsomolets, October 3, 2001, p. 2
The Swiss firm Noga is unsuccessfully trying to extract debts from Russia. On October 2, Noga made it clear that it may even attack President Vladimir Putin’s reputation in order to get back the debts.
Of course, the Swiss company does not intend to seize the Russian president and hold him as security, like it did with Russian planes and ships. However, representatives of the firm intend to seize the president’s property. This happened after the court rejected the claim of the firm for confiscation of the 5,000 Swiss francs given by the Russian Federation as bail for Pavel Borodin. The infuriated firm announced that as soon as the Russian president appears in Switzerland, it would seize his property. Marc Bonann, Chief Lawyer of Noga, has announced, “I’ll seize Russian assets anywhere they may be.”
FIRST AID
Izvestia, October 3, 2001, p. 2
The Emergencies Ministry has started to assist future Afghani refugees.
On the morning of October 2, a Russian Il-76 airplane landed in Dushanbe with 16.5 tons of humanitarian cargo on board. The goods are meant for people from the northern districts of Afghanistan. The plane was send at the request of President Vladimir Putin. The tents, blankets, and foodstuffs brought to Dushanbe were taken from the state’s reserves.
A special group of the Emergencies Ministry is working in Dushanbe now. This group will deliver the humanitarian aid to the Afghani embassy, which, in turn, will decide on how to deliver it to Afghanistan.
The humanitarian operation will have three stages. On the first stage three special planes with food and tents are to be delivered to Dushanbe from the Emergencies Ministry. Slightly later, five more Il-76 planes will bring medicines, blankets, and cleaning products. And finally, mobile hospitals and power plants, ambulances, stoves, beds, and mobile kitchens will be delivered by railroad.
The total extent of the humanitarian aid, and the terms and conditions of its deliveries, will depend on the situation in Afghanistan.
MURMANSK RESIDENTS WORRIED
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 3, 2001, p. 7
The operation to raise the Kursk is underway. It took divers 12 hours to fix the first two cables that will raise the submarine. They have been attached to the central (fifth) compartment. It is not ruled out that the submarine will be lifted from the sea floor as soon as Thursday.
However, Murmansk residents are beginning to worry. According to a recent opinion poll, 80% of them are anxious about the safety of the operation in the Barents Sea. However, 60% of them are convinced that everything will be all right.
NEW COMMANDER OF 201ST DIVISION APPOINTED
Izvestia, October 3, 2001, p. 3
On October 2, Colonel Yury Perminov was appointed the new commander of the 201st motorized-infantry division stationed in Tajikistan. Its former commander Valentin Orlov has been promoted and shifted to an internal military district.
Meanwhile, the Tajik authorities doubt that the change of the commander makes sense now that the situation in the region is being exacerbated.
However, the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation has announced that this change was a routine measure and it will not influence the situation in the division.
A few days ago a commission of the Russian Defense Ministry arrived in Dushanbe. The commission is headed by Lieutenant General Vladimir Popov. It will collect information about the military-political situation in the region.
MERCENARY PRISON WARDENS DETERMINING PERSONNEL POLICY IN STATE DEPARTMENT OF PENITENTIARY INSTITUTIONS
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 3, 2001, p. 7
September’s events in the Moscow Detention Cells No. 2 will certainly lead to significant personnel changes in the State Department of Penitentiary Institutions (SDRI) of the Russian Federation. First of all, Chief of the Butyrka detention cells Rafik Ibragimov will be dismissed. He has twice submitted his resignation since the escape of 39-year-old prisoner Ivan Vinogradov.
A few hours after Ivan Vinogradov’s escape Ibragimov realized that there was a traitor in the jail.
Director of the SDRI Vladimir Yalunin has announced that three prison wardens have been detained. An investigation of their activities is going on now. However, the worst thing that may be in store for the arrested is an accusation of criminal negligence. Investigators can prove their participation in the arrangement of the escape only by finding eyewitnesses, who are impossible to find in such cases as a rule.
