Russia 100811 Basic Political Developments

Medvedev to hold meeting on Dagestan's development

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100811/160150606.html

01:58 11/08/2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will on Wednesday hold a meeting on the social and economic development of the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the presidential press service reported.

The strategy of the North Caucasus Federal District's social and economic development is being drafted now, and a number of Dagestani projects have been included into it. A special working group is being set up. Implementation of the projects will resolve the unemployment problem in the region.

Last week Medvedev spoke by phone to Dagestani president Magomedsalam Magomedov, who informed the Russian leader of the situation in Dagestan's mountainous regions, where a number of villages were affected by wildfires.

Medvedev instructed the government to prepare compensation for residents of the Dagestani village of Anchikh, where 55 houses out of 646 burned down on August 5.

Wildfires, sparked by weeks of abnormally high temperatures in central Russia, are raging across the country. More than 50 people have died in the fires. Some 2,000 houses have burned down, leaving 3,500 Russians without a roof over their heads.

The wildfires have severely damaged the Russian economy, with the estimated short-term loss of $15 billion.

The Russian president holds meetings on the development of North Caucasus and other regions on a regular basis.

SOCHI, August 11 (RIA Novosti)

Major Overhaul of the North Caucasus’ Transit System is Postponed

http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19658&Itemid=132
August 10, 2010

Valery Dzutsev 

Russian Transportation Minister, Igor Levitin, toured the North Caucasian republics from July 31 to August 3. During that visit he announced several highway reconstruction projects, and unveiled plans for consolidation of the air transport industry in the North Caucasus.

At the same time, however, he was extremely cautious about entertaining any groundbreaking transportation infrastructure development projects.

On August 3, at a regional meeting of transportation professionals, Levitin urged the regional authorities of the North Caucasus to consider creating a single air carrier that would be based in Mineralnye Vody (aka Minvody), which is located in the predominantly ethnic Russian populated region of Stavropol. According to the minister, Moscow would not be able to create an air carrier company in each territory of the North Caucasus. Levitin tried to reassure the republics that the flights from their airports would not be abolished. But he warned that the current situation –with the airports in the North Caucasus being so atypically close to each other, especially in comparison to the scarcely populated inner Russian territories– was unsustainable and should be optimized (www.mintrans.ru, August 3). This essentially means that some or all North Caucasian republican airports will become obsolete over time, as Moscow has decided to route the air traffic through the airport in Minvody.

Even though Levitin strived to appear as if he was open for discussion with the local authorities, Kommersant reported that a decision in principle was made to create a united air carrier for the North Caucasus Federal District under the auspices of Aeroflot. Moscow’s envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District, Aleksandr Khloponin, is reportedly pressing the government in Moscow to make Minvody a major regional transportation hub. Air transport analysts, however, caution that Aeroflot may have its own vision of the development of its regional network. The local air carrier based in Minvody is currently a federally owned company that ranks 23rd in size in Russia, having carried 238,000 passengers during the first six months of 2010, but it is losing its air traffic. Some observers say that unless Aeroflot invests in buying new aircraft, the Minvody project will not succeed (Kommersant, August 4).

The structure of the system of airports in the North Caucasus may be far from optimal, but the competing political interests of the regional elites are likely to thwart attempts to rid the republics of their airports. Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria each have their own civilian airport. Each of these airports only has a couple of regular daily flights. The road distance between the airport in Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia is 100 kilometers (62 miles), the distance between North Ossetia’s airport and the airport in Ingushetia is 20 kilometers (12 miles), and only 85 kilometers (53 miles) separate Ingushetia’s airport from the airport in Grozny. Even the remotest airport in Dagestan is only 170 kilometers (106 miles) from Grozny’s airport.

Apart from the proximity of airports to each other in the North Caucasus, especially when compared to the average inner Russian territories, where the population density is much lower, no good reason was given for Moscow’s decision to concentrate air traffic in Minvody and not, for example, in Makhachkala or some other city of the North Caucasus that is closer to the Russian border than Minvody. The move may indicate Moscow’s desire to build a regional version of the notorious “power vertical” in the North Caucasus, with the most important pieces of infrastructure located safely in the Russian-speaking Stavropol region. This, in turn, is likely to provoke further resentment, even among the pro-Moscow elites of the North Caucasian republics.

Levitin announced his support for the idea for increasing from two to four the number of lanes on the Kavkaz highway, which cuts across the North Caucasus from northeast to southwest, from Rostov region to the border with Azerbaijan in Dagestan. The beginning of the project, however, has been delayed until 2013, which in the Russian reality means it may never materialize. Instead of allotting funds for the reconstruction of the airport in Ingushetia, Levitin said he “supported” the decision to provide $30 million for its reconstruction (www.mintrans.ru, August 2).

Throughout his visit to the North Caucasus Levitin repeatedly emphasized the need to enhance security measures in local transport. For example, he cited the need to use CCTV cameras, GLONASS navigation systems (the Russian equivalent of the GPS) and provide for the installation of effective control over intercity transit systems. Suicide attackers from Dagestan are believed to have travelled from Dagestan to Moscow by bus and blown up themselves in the metro on March 29.

At a conference of the United Russia party in Kislovodsk on July 6, Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, promised an overhaul of the North Caucasus’ transit system as part of the massive government effort to accelerate regional development. According to Putin, all of the airports of the region would be rebuilt and the airports in Minvody, Magas (in Ingushetia) and Grozny would receive $16 million in 2010. Putin stated that the North Caucasus should become an integral part of the “North-South” transit corridor connecting Russia and Europe with the countries of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia. The Russian prime minister also referred to a specific transit project: building a highway across the Caucasus Mountains from Cherkess in Karachaevo-Cherkessia to the Black Sea coast in Abkhazia (www.premier.gov.ru, July 6).

Levitin’s visit to the North Caucasus, which was supposedly meant to add some flesh to the prime minister’s plans, did not live up to Putin’s grand vision. The transportation minister promised minimal investments in building highway bypasses for the big cities in the North Caucasus and a few other projects of local importance. He focused on what Moscow seems to be interested in above all –solidifying its grip over the most important pieces of infrastructure, more control over the transit systems and enhancing security. The project for a highway from Karachaevo-Cherkessia to Abkhazia received a fairly cool reception from Levitin, who said during his visit to Cherkessk that the project could be implemented only through a partnership between the government and private companies, which would envisage the construction of toll roads (www.mintrans.ru, August 3).

Source: http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/

GOOGLE TRANSLATION

Murder in Ramadan: the death of one of the spiritual leaders of the Muslims of Dagestan

http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=385131


On Wednesday in Makhachkala, the head of the company "Makhachkala-TV and publishing" Nurul-Irshad, former head of Islamic Education Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Dagestan Magomedvagif Sultanmagomedov was wounded. A few hours later in hospital he died.
"Sultanmagomedov died on the operating table from a bullet wound in the chest. The second wounded man is now in serious condition," - reported in the waiting room of the Republican Clinical Hospital, Interfax correspondent.
Earlier, the press service of Dagestan Interior Ministry reported that Sultanmagomedov and another man seriously wounded in the shelling of VAZ-21099, on Wednesday in Makhachkala.
The attack on them was carried out on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

11 August 2010, 10:28

Two Wahabi ideologists hiding in Turkey - Chechen president

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7576

Moscow, August 11, Interfax - Two renowned Wahabi ideologists, Isa Umarov and Shamsuddi Batukayev, are hiding in Turkey, the Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said.

"Intelligence information indicates that Isa Umarov, one of the main ideologists of Wahhabism, and Shamsuddi Batukayev, the head of the Sharia court of "Ichkeria" and one of the main Wahabis, are hiding in Turkey," Kadyrov said in an interview to Azeri television.

"These people started all this, then escaped and are hiding there and are making efforts to spread Wahhabism and extremism from there," Kadyrov said.

Asked by Azeri journalists whether the leaders of illegal armed groups are receiving aid from Azerbaijan, Kadyrov replied that "this support does not exist today."

"It used to be, that's for sure. Our terrorists hid under the guise of refugees in Azerbaijan, in Turkey, and in other places," he said.

Kadyrov stressed that there is no political agenda in his words. "I don't make political statements. I am talking as a warrior fighting them," he said.

Kadyrov said he had met with the Azeri president while visiting Azerbaijan. "We discussed this issue, and I received answers to all of my questions," he said.

"Terrorists and extremists are not receiving support in Azerbaijan, and we are really grateful to this country's leadership for that," he said.
Chechen leader: Azerbaijan not harbouring 'terrorists'

http://news.az/articles/20732
Wed 11 August 2010 | 07:30 GMT

Ramzan Kadyrov, Moscow-backed president of the Chechen Republic, has said that Azerbaijan is not supporting "terrorists and extremists".

Kadyrov was speaking in an interview with Azerbaijani TV, the text of which has been published on the website of the Chechen president and government.

Asked whether militants in Chechnya were receiving support from Azerbaijan, Kadyrov replied, "Undoubtedly, there has been support. Our terrorists sought refuge in Azerbaijan, in Turkey and other places as refugees. When I speak, I do not make political statements. I speak as a warrior who is fighting them. When I was in Azerbaijan, I met the president of the country, we discussed this issue and I found answers to all my questions.

"Today there is no support for terrorists and extremists in Azerbaijan and we are grateful to the country’s leadership and we want to thank them. May they be healthy and happy, especially my uncle, the mufti of the Caucasus, Sheikh ul-Islam."

Ramzan Kadyrov referred to agreements between the law-enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan and Russia, but did not elaborate on the details. Security was one of the topics of discussion when the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received the Chechen leader in Baku last November.

In his interview, Kadyrov went on to praise Azerbaijan's spiritual leader, Sheikh ul-Islam Allashukur Pashazade, head of the Caucasus Muslims Department.

"This is a respected person not only in Azerbaijan but also throughout the Caucasus, Russia and even the world community. They know what terrorism and extremism are, they know this threat is real and spare no effort for Islam not to be associated with the concepts of terrorism and extremism. Therefore, today we have a mutual understanding, even the special services of our countries, the law-enforcement structures signed some agreements, they will work in Azerbaijan and Russia.

"Today we have no questions to Azerbaijan and the leadership of this country. According to operational information, Turkey is hiding one Isa Umarov, one of the main ideologists of the Wahabbis, and Shamsuddi Batukayev, head of the Shariah court of Ichkeria and one of the main Wahabbis. These people initiated this; they escaped and are hiding there and working to spread Wahhabism and extremism from there," he said.

The Chechen leader said he was very pleased to have been invited to visit Azerbaijan.

"I have great respect for the leadership of Azerbaijan, not only I but the leadership of the Russian Federation also respects the president of Azerbaijan. It's very important for me that the invitation was conveyed by my uncle, the Sheikh ul-Islam... When Ilham Geydarovich Aliyev has time, I will be happy to visit. I was in Baku not long ago. I liked it very much... I also invite our older brother, Mr President Aliyev, to visit us during his next trip to Russia."

He said that a street in the Chechen capital Grozny would be named after Ilham Aliyev's father, the late president Heydar Aliyev.

"We have decided to name a street in Grozny after Heydar Aliyev, a respected person, state and political figure of the Soviet Union and the  Republic of Azerbaijan," Kadyrov said.

He said that his father, whom he described as the first president of Chechnya, Akhmad Haji Kadyrov, had enjoyed a close friendship with Aliyev for many years.

"Heydar Aliyev knew my father well, the first leader of the Chechen Republic Akhmad Haji Kadyrov. They often met. They enjoyed warm, good relations," Kadyrov said.

Asked about the activity of militants in Chechnya and the North Caucasus as a whole, Kadyrov insisted that just some 70 fighters were left in Chechnya.

"We calculate that around 70 people are left. This is including Arabs and other incomers and our so-called Chechens. I call them devils. Why? Because they have sold out the religion of Islam, the whole of humanity," Kadyrov said.

He said that the militants would never be successful.

"I am fighting bandits, extremists and Wahhabis," Kadyrov stated.

News.Az

11 Aug 2010