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Maryana Torocheshnikova: The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch has published a report on the situation in the Chechen Republic and repressions against critics of Ramzan Kadyrov’s regime. "What is it in minefield" - this is the name of the report, based on 43 interviews with human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and people who paid for their criticism of the current leadership of the republic.
In the Radio Liberty studio is the program director for Russia of the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch and the author of the report, and a columnist for Novaya Gazeta, and on a video link with us is a member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, head of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
Full version of the program
When you remember the war, you understand: then we had less fear than now
I'll start with a small quote. “When you remember the war, you understand: then we had less fear than now. Fear of a bomb, a bullet - we lived with it. I could, I can live with it. But with such constant pressure, terrible humiliation, I can’t, I just can’t. I'm ashamed of myself. They build me every day, force me to follow a string, walk as if through a minefield. Always, everywhere, look around, wait for danger, wait for someone to take you away" - with this fragment of an interview with one of the residents of Chechnya, the report on the new stage in life of the republic, which, judging by the author’s words, has turned into a living hell for many. For almost ten years the head Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov constantly tried to eradicate all forms of dissent and gradually built a tyranny in Chechnya. Now Ramzan Kadyrov, who was previously appointed head of the republic by the Kremlin, is faced with the need to participate in elections. According to the authors of the report, in the run-up to these elections in local authorities authorities have viciously cracked down on those whose overall loyalty to Kadyrov is questionable. They are recognized as such ordinary people, who express dissenting opinions, Russian and foreign journalists who criticize the authorities of Chechnya, as well as those few human rights activists who challenge cases of abuses by employees of the republican law enforcement agencies and security forces. We will talk about these cases today.
Tatyana, from your point of view, of all the stories given in the report, which is the most indicative of what is happening in Chechnya today?
It seems to me that all the stories given in the report are indicative. And we know many more such stories. We include stories in the report when we were able to interview, receive video confirmation, or receive documentary evidence of a particular situation. But in reality we know much more. We know stories that we cannot talk about because the victims or their relatives asked us not to talk about it, they are afraid of the consequences.
The stories included in the report are just the tip of the iceberg, part of a huge problem.
We know many stories! The stories included in the report are just the tip of the iceberg, part of a huge problem. If you look carefully at the report, you will probably see that almost all of these stories are documented there: they took place in mass media, other organizations talked about them. That is, it would seem that we are not saying anything super new in this report. But we tell these stories together, and they give a picture of what is happening in the republic.
As for the quote you cited, in slightly different words, several people told me absolutely the same thing in Chechnya: there was a war, and it was so scary, it seemed like it was the end of the world, and nothing could be worse, and only that ended, but then we could protest, we went out into the streets, told something to journalists, hid these journalists, took them everywhere, we wanted our stories to be heard, we tried to save people ourselves, but now we can do absolutely nothing, and it is shameful, humiliating and unbearable.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: Moreover, this cannot be done by representatives of security forces and law enforcement agencies who came to Chechnya from other regions. They received an unequivocal threat from Ramzan Kadyrov, who ordered to literally deal with all the security forces who suddenly arrive and arrange something in the republic. It turns out that the people who now live in Chechnya are left completely without protection?
In fact, the leadership of the republic manages, as it were, a state within a state that does not live according to the laws of the Russian Federation
: I doubt that people living in Chechnya perceive the feds as protection. Of course, the legacy of the terrible many-year bloody war and the monstrous crimes that the federals committed in Chechnya is quite obvious. But in fact, the leadership of the republic manages, as it were, a state within a state that does not live according to the laws Russian Federation, and according to certain rules and norms that are personally dictated by the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, he dictates on Chechen television, telling what is possible, what is not, how to live, how to study, how to get married. And he invades all aspects of the life of Chechen society, including those things that, it would seem, are traditionally considered private, family matters.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: Your report emphasizes: if in previous years The Chechen Republic was a high-risk zone for the work of journalists and human rights activists, then Last year showed that it has become completely impossible for those people who make critical remarks about Ramzan Kadyrov to work there.
In recent years, the whole situation has become bad for work - they won’t give you opportunities, they’ll hinder you
This is indeed the situation now. She wasn't like this all the time. It has worsened for all journalists who come to write about the real situation in Chechnya: they may be detained and not allowed to work, their materials will be destroyed, they will be taken to a position and, most likely, expelled from the republic. This situation did not exist back in 2013, or even in 2014. An example is the trial of Ruslan Kutaev (a Chechen political prisoner), which was widely publicized, and I could work there calmly. Then human rights activists could work. And in recent years, the whole situation has become bad for work - they won’t give you the opportunity, they’ll hinder you.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: Do I understand correctly that only a few people in Chechnya now carry out real human rights activities?
This is probably not entirely true. There are human rights activists who actually work in Chechnya, but another thing is that we don’t hear about them, they don’t have the opportunity to say anything publicly, address the public, you don’t have the opportunity to interview them. I think that these names also do not appear in the Human Rights Watch report, because, unfortunately, human rights activists in Chechnya are faced with a choice: either you try to collect information about human rights violations, or you can talk about these violations without being in Chechnya. There is such a problem.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: If a person knows about the violation of the rights of another person, but actually cannot do anything about it: neither complain, nor reach out to higher authorities, the same security officials, then he is working simply for the sake of interest, or what?
Some organizations have the ability to simply share this work. We have now begun to work in the Chechen Republic on the same principle - we have only people who do not identify themselves in any way with the “Committee for the Prevention of Torture” who work in Chechnya, and I am trying to somehow implement their information through law enforcement agencies, through MASS MEDIA.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: In order not to declassify your agents?
We have proven that it is really dangerous for our employees to be in Chechnya, that is, an attack on them will inevitably be
In order not to declassify employees, for whom this is not just dangerous, but is associated with inevitable physical harm. We have proven that it is really dangerous for our employees to be in Chechnya, that is, an attack on them will inevitably happen. So, we have to work like this. This does not mean that they are committing some illegal actions there, hiding under someone else’s passports, they simply do not introduce themselves as employees of the “Committee for the Prevention of Torture.”
Maryana Torocheshnikova: The Human Rights Watch report describes a story in which unknown persons attacked a group of journalists returning from Ingushetia to Chechnya and burned a bus. And on the same day, another pogrom was carried out at the office of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, its consolidated mobile group.
Vladimir Putin gave personal instructions to conduct an investigation, figure out what happened, who attacked, and bring the perpetrators to justice. Igor, what is known about this investigation? Have any suspects been found?
These two attacks occurred about an hour apart, and the attack on the bus carrying members of the joint mobile group and journalists is being investigated. I can’t talk now about how effectively it is being investigated... Although, in my opinion, it is obvious that if the special services provided the information that they have on this route (and this is a section of the route that is completely controlled by various technical means) , then this crime would have been solved within a few days, without delay. I don’t know in full what the investigation has been doing there for five months, we quite actively filed petitions there, and most of them were granted. It contains materials, including from a series of previous attacks to which employees of the combined mobile group were subjected - these include employees of the Committee against Torture, and other organizations, and journalists. Now everything is basically connected in this matter.
Apparently, Yevkurov knows more than all of us; he probably needs to be interrogated in this case
As for the second attack - on our apartment in Karabulak, where our employees spent the night, where documents were kept, and all this was stolen during this attack - this case was suspended literally three weeks ago, and this means that all investigative measures on this the case was effectively terminated. Surprisingly, they explained to us that they stopped it due to the fact that all possible investigative steps had been completed, and this did not lead to the identification of suspects and accused. But just the other day, on the 25th, on the Dozhd TV channel, the head of the republic, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, said that this was not an attack at all, but some kind of search, inspection of the premises. It’s just not clear why there were no witnesses, it’s not clear why everything was breaking down and collapsing, and it’s not clear why a criminal case was supposedly being investigated over this for four months. Apparently, Yevkurov knows more than all of us; he probably needs to be interrogated in this case.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: In addition to this story about a real attack on journalists and an apartment, there was also a moment (it is not reflected in your report, Tatyana) of an obvious threat to members of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, who were going to hold a retreat in the Chechen Republic. And what was the Kremlin’s reaction to what happened?
How do we, a group of members of the Presidential Council who made this trip to the republics North Caucasus, on the eve of this trip, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Fedotov, our head and leader, said telephone conversation with Ramzan Kadyrov, he mentioned that Kalyapin would be part of this group. Ramzan Akhmatovich paused for a long time, and then said that in this case he did not guarantee the safety of the members of the Presidential Council. And he allegedly added that “you can come with Kalyapin to one place, but you won’t be able to get to another.” We considered this a threat.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: And they refused the trip... But was there any reaction from the person to whom you are advising how to deal with the rights of citizens (I mean the president)? You had a completely official mission...
I know the reaction of several high-ranking officials of the presidential administration to this situation. I intend to definitely raise this issue at the next meeting with the president. But until after these events, Putin and I, unfortunately, have not met. Probably, such a meeting will take place in September or October.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: Tatyana, from your point of view, is Ramzan Kadyrov still highly dependent on Vladimir Putin? Or those games that he organized with a show of force, when he gathered a whole stadium of his fighters, these photographs from Instagram with dogs ready to punish the “fifth column”, rallies of thousands - all this is just a demonstration to Vladimir Putin that “I am on my own here.” master, and you can’t just get rid of me”?
Ramzan Kadyrov's dependence on the Kremlin is total; he endlessly needs political and financial support from the Kremlin
In fact, Ramzan Kadyrov’s dependence on the Kremlin is total; he endlessly needs political and financial support from the Kremlin. And therefore, when President Putin, albeit very gently, but still publicly reproaches Ramzan Kadyrov for not having sufficiently developed relations with federal officials, gives him appropriate instructions, or even says that no one in Russia can break the law, and this also applies to the leader of the Chechen Republic - such soft, seemingly affectionate remarks cannot be underestimated, they in themselves are very important.
And partly the worsening pressure on dissidents inside Chechnya, the worsening persecution of journalists and human rights activists in the last year and a half is connected precisely with the attempt of the Chechen authorities, on the one hand, to remind the population that total control is still theirs, and on the other hand, to stop the flow as much as possible negative information, which is spilling out from Chechnya, and which can, one way or another, affect the attitude of the owners in the Kremlin. This is very important.
In these last year and a half, we have seen a total purge in Chechnya information space. And, of course, in such a situation it is quite absurd to talk about the free expression of the will of citizens.
Still, the main victims of this offensive are precisely those residents of Chechnya who allow themselves to express at least some criticism, at least some dissatisfaction with what is happening in the republic: some - publicly, in in social networks, and some - not publicly, but discuss something in closed groups, for example, on Facebook or VKontakte, and they are caught doing this and demonstratively punished, so that not only they and their relatives, but everyone around them, understands what the price is you can pay.
Of course, in this regard, the story of a young man who was stripped of his pants and forced to walk on a treadmill in swimming trunks and repent that he wrote something wrong on social networks about Kadyrov and Putin is very indicative in this regard. Many people inside Chechnya perceive this kind of severe public humiliation as something worse than death.
The main victims of the offensive are precisely those residents of Chechnya who allow themselves to express at least some dissatisfaction with what is happening in the republic
The question is not only that journalists are attacked, detained, threatened, as Elena was threatened. The question is also that you, as a journalist (or as a researcher international organization like me, as a human rights activist from Russian organization, like Igor Kalyapin) you are always terrified of exposing your sources. For example, I did not go to Chechnya to work on this report. And for me, for Human Rights Watch, this is a very atypical “modus operandi.” Usually we do a “field”, go out, interview people on the ground, and so on. But here it is absolutely impossible! After all, when I appear in Chechnya and start meeting people, they and their families will suffer from this, because collective punishment, which is prohibited Russian law, in Chechnya are used systematically. For me, interviewing someone today in Grozny is not even a question of my danger. Well, they will throw me out of there, well, they will detain me, they will beat me, I don’t know... But this is, first of all, a question of the fact that I will monstrously set people up.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: Elena, how much harder has it become to work, and in general, are there any opportunities left to work with living sources in Chechnya? It is clear that many people know you, you have developed a certain reputation in the North Caucasus, people trust you, but are they ready to tell you about something, provide information on the basis of which you can make investigations?
Indeed, I have a special situation, because I have been working in Chechnya for quite a long time, I worked at a time when Chechnya was of no interest to anyone in Russia, only PR news came from there, which is what Ramzan Kadyrov and his entourage were accustomed to. They simply still cannot understand what happened in December 2014, why Russia suddenly became interested in Chechnya again, and so much so. And I know the answer to this question, but I won’t say it on air. (laughs)
In fact, this is the weak point of the Chechen government, and it must be exploited. And the people of Chechnya use it because, despite all the fear and depression that people have, they are not silent. People are more willing to tell those who understand security problems, can give them some guarantees, and take at least primitive measures to protect their sources. I have simply developed a multi-level protection system, and I consider this the most important component of my work in Chechnya.
What important things happened during these one and a half years? It was not for nothing that I cited the example of the trial of Ruslan Kutaev, which I was present from and to, and I could go to all government institutions in Chechnya.
Chechens are the kind of people who can be broken long and hard, but it is completely impossible to break them
February 2014 marked the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Chechens and Ingush, a date that should have been celebrated at the federal level. But February 23 marked the closing of the Olympics in Sochi, shameful, as it now turns out, with its false victories. And for the sake of this Olympics, we not only forgot this date, but also sent certain signals to Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Chechnya in order to either postpone it or not celebrate it en masse - in general, to hold back people who remember their repressed relatives. Chechnya overdid it here: the same Ingushetia celebrated the anniversary the next day, and in Chechnya it was generally forbidden to mention the deportation.
But Chechens are the kind of people who can be broken long and hard, for many years, but it is completely impossible to break them. And with all these prohibitions, the Chechen intelligentsia gathered and held a small scientific and historical conference in Central Library Grozny. After this, all participants in this conference were called to the carpet to Magomed Daudov - this was then the head of Kadyrov’s administration, his inner circle. This is a person who is very feared. He carries out very delicate assignments within the republic. Outside the republic there is another such person, Adam Delimkhanov, whose people constantly fall into the most different stories already in Moscow.
Kutaev was one of the presenters at this conference, and he did not come, and even answered Daudov: “You are not my master, I will not obey your orders.” This is what he paid for. A case was opened against him. I studied his materials and I can say that it is completely falsified, there is no evidence that Ruslan Kutaev had drugs. They were planted on him, and he was convicted. I could have been at this trial then, I could have come to any Grozny university, to court, anywhere, and no one would have thought then, a year and a half ago, to grab me, drag me to the police, as recently happened with journalist Ilya Azar, seize me I have a voice recorder, video equipment, and so on.
In Chechnya, time after time, obstruction of professional journalistic activity, and the center does not respond to this
Now the situation has changed dramatically. In Chechnya, professional journalistic activity is obstructed over and over again, and the center does not react to this. But he does not react to anything: neither to violations of the rights of journalists, nor to violations of the rights of human rights activists, nor to violations of the rights of residents of Chechnya. As a matter of fact, this is the most important point. Residents of Chechnya have no rights; the Constitution does not apply to them. And this model suits me federal center, and Kadyrov suits them exactly in this role: he does whatever he wants with the Chechens, complete carte blanche! And as long as he does this and does not go beyond any limits, this model will completely suit the center.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: Are they conducting some kind of experiment there?
Yes, they practically created a Stalin museum under open air. If you want to know how life was in 1937, go to Chechnya.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: And can this experience be transferred to other regions?
No, it's unlikely. This model was invented, on the one hand, to govern Chechnya, to suppress separatist and terrorist sentiments, and it is this moment very effective. The question is what to do next with it, because it does not solve any long-term problems.
And the fact is that it is still very expensive. Moscow's subsidies for Grozny remain huge and are increasing, but they are increasing without catching up with the financial crisis. Local elites are accustomed to highest degree luxurious life, and in a situation where the ruble depreciates, there is less money, they put even more pressure on the population.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: This, by the way, is also written about in the Human Rights Watch report, including stories of incredible humiliation of people who protested against this administration policy.
Not even protests. You might think that dissident people in Chechnya are some people who criticized Ramzan Kadyrov personally, saying that he is a bad leader and should not exist in Chechnya. Mostly we're talking about about people who simply timidly expressed their grief, their dissatisfaction with one or another aspect of the situation: that there are extortions, that local officials are corrupt, that they are pushing them beyond the poverty line, that they are not restoring what they promised to restore - and people are also punished for this.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: Your report describes the story of Aishat Inaeva. She is a social worker, and she was subjected to a very unpleasant, humiliating procedure, called on the carpet to Ramzan Kadyrov along with her husband, and she had to justify herself for her words. And she said that they were extorting money from them, taking part of their salaries. And the husband also apologized for his wife, said that he had dissolved her, and this was all broadcast on local Chechen television. This appeared on YouTube, and they probably knew about it, including in the presidential administration of the Russian Federation, but there was no reaction.
Residents of Chechnya have no rights; the Constitution does not apply to them
Igor Aleksandrovich did not talk about what the administration’s reaction was to the humiliation of the delegation of the Human Rights Council, but I can say. According to my sources, the then head of administration Sergei Ivanov said: “Go without Kalyapin. Well, Kadyrov set a condition, agree to this.” And the delegation decided that they would not go without Kalyapin. That is, this is a humiliation not only of the residents of Chechnya, not only of human rights activists, not only of members of the Human Rights Council, but of the administration of President Putin.
This is quite an interesting situation. On the one hand, it is simply clear that over the past year and a half there have been several reproaches and hints to Kadyrov from the Kremlin. In principle, judging by these reproaches, judging by the statements of Vladimir Putin, judging by the fact that Chechnya did not appear in the most flattering way in the federal media, it seems that the Kremlin’s frustration is growing. And it’s not for nothing that the Kremlin did not immediately confirm Kadyrov’s powers as an appointee, the head of the Chechen Republic, but forced him to hang on, wait a little and twitch. All this, of course, is not happening in vain.
But then, probably, in such a situation, it is expected that the head of the region will come to his senses and say: yes, I will sit quietly and do everything according to the rules. And, probably, experiencing panic, the leader of Chechnya is further increasing pressure on any dissidents within the republic, on any external critical forces, apparently assuming that “if we close all information, then they won’t find out anything bad about us, and then everyone will be good". At the same time, of course, Kadyrov’s dependence on the Kremlin is not even discussed; this is certainly true.
Kremlin frustration appears to be growing
The question is how the Kremlin will react next. It is clear that frustration is frustration, but, in the end, the Kremlin has many problems - the financial crisis, Syria, Ukraine, and against the backdrop of all this, there is apparently no willingness to radically change anything in Chechnya. And Putin, in the end, having forced Kadyrov to wait and rush around, extends his powers until the September elections and says that he will welcome his participation in the elections, but Ramzan Akhmatovich needs to work on strengthening relations with federal officials and institutions. Apparently, from the point of view of the Russian leadership, the Chechen leadership does not need to work to ensure that the rights of people inside Chechnya are respected.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: At the same time, you need to understand that it is already known who will be chosen in these elections coming in September, and there will be no surprises there.
In our program the words “in the last year and a half” were heard several times. Why exactly one and a half years? Igor, you are informed about many, perhaps even behind-the-scenes events, and are familiar with the situation in Chechnya. Can you explain why there have been such problems in the last year and a half? Is it only the financial crisis that is to blame, or are there other political components?
I can't answer this question. In my opinion, Lena Milashina knows the answer to this, but I don’t. I believe that quantitative changes simply turned into qualitative ones, that is, Kadyrov’s regime is gradually becoming more and more harsh, more and more intolerant of criticism, and, as a result, he gradually closed all information flows that are not under his control that exist in the republic. It is clear that for this it was necessary to gag journalists, human rights activists, their human rights defenders had to either be liquidated, silenced, as they did with Natalya Estemirova, as they did with Memorial, well, and such “Varangians” as the combined mobile group of the “Committee against Torture” just needs to be expelled somehow.
Quantitative changes simply turned into qualitative ones, Kadyrov’s regime is gradually becoming more and more harsh, more and more intolerant of criticism
And in December 2014, Ramzan Kadyrov publicly announced that he would not allow our organization to work in the Chechen Republic, he considers it sabotage, harmful, God knows what else. He did not publicly call other organizations that way, but this is a very consistent offensive policy that he is implementing. Is this related to the elections or not? I honestly don't think it's related. I think that this is a completely independent process that consistently develops and from time to time gives such qualitative leaps as we see: with defeats, with murders, among other things.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: Just in December 2014, the same attack on Grozny was carried out...
And on this day there was a federal message from Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin: he spoke, and there was a battle in Grozny - 14 years after Putin came to power, and 10 years after the war ended in Chechnya... It was very serious a turning point, when the media component suddenly turned its face to Chechnya, and Russia again became interested in what was happening in the Caucasus, and in Chechnya, first of all.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: As far as I understand, it is still unclear how many people were injured in that shootout in the center of Grozny. People also contacted us on Radio Liberty and said that there were many more victims than the 14 killed policemen, and Kadyrov was hiding everything, but there was no way to verify the information.
In addition to the dead, there were also wounded - about 40 people. Among the dead was a close relative of Ramzan Kadyrov. And the final decision to expel the combined mobile group of the “Committee against Torture” from Chechnya was connected with this situation, because it was then, reacting to the militants’ attack on Grozny, that Ramzan Kadyrov made his infamous statement that, as retribution for the actions of the militants, all their relatives will be punished, their houses will be destroyed to the foundation, they will be expelled from Chechnya without the possibility of return.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: And he fulfilled his threat!
Then, over the course of several days, nine houses, at least, were actually destroyed, and Igor Kalyapin turned to the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, trying to point out that this was a violation of Mr. Kadyrov's powers, that, in dealing with With such a call, he is committing illegal actions, and the federal center must deal with this. And this statement was followed by a reaction from the Chechen leadership - a very harsh squeezing out of the combined mobile group of the Committee against Torture and Kalyapin himself from the Chechen Republic.
Maryana Torocheshnikova: Judging by the stories outlined in the Human Rights Watch report, and by what we said in today’s program, a completely clear picture is emerging of the virtual impossibility of human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and government critics working in the republic. Are there any civil, public institutions working there? Is there justice in the republic? Can people come to court and resolve their issues with public utilities, with debts, and achieve criminal prosecution of offenders? Or is the court there also in such a toy state?
Our judges are terribly vulnerable people, but in Chechnya judges are fighting for their dignity
You probably mean latest story about how Ramzan Kadyrov essentially changed the leadership of the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic. The current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court remains for now, but he is currently on vacation and will soon be replaced by another person. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation agreed that now the appointment of federal judges in Chechnya takes place not according to the law, but by the grace and will of the head of Chechnya.
You mentioned utility bills. At the end of April there was a wedding of Ramzan Kadyrov’s nephew, where there was a multi-kilometer motorcade (it was shown on YouTube), a fortune was simply spent on this wedding, and the situation with the gas war against the population, declared by the current head of administration Islam Kadyrov (this Kadyrov's nephew).
Moreover, the administration, and the gas workers, and the teachers... They were forced to buy grinders, cut down people's pipes, supposedly for debts, and the debts were invented on a piece of paper, some incredible, terrible debt figures were mentioned - 90 thousand, 400 thousand... People they forced me to go and check; In one of my districts, a person took a ticket, where he was the 5,000th person in the queue for verification; they will consider him in 20 years, because they consider 10 people a day. There were 10 thousand gas pipes cut, 10 thousand houses in Chechnya were left without gas. That is, half of the republic was actually deprived of gas. At the same time, they were not allowed to buy gas cylinders for cooking, nor were they allowed to buy firewood in order to at least somehow heat the houses.
People were deprived of gas, forcing them to pay debts that it was unclear where they came from. And what about the courts? I have court decisions in favor of people, judges recognized these debts declared by the authorities as worthless, recognized the actions of the authorities as illegal. The problem is that these decisions are not implemented. This situation has been resolved a little because great amount Chechens began to complain - on WhatsApp, on YouTube, to record videos... The Chechens who complain appeal to Ramzan Kadyrov as a savior. Here in Russia they appeal to Putin this way: he is the tsar-father, he will decide everything, he just doesn’t know, and the boyars are bad... If you look at these appeals, there are moments where they openly laugh at Kadyrov, but for this they are terribly punished . But mostly these are complaints: “Ramzan Akhmatovich, help! I have nothing to live on, I’m dying of hunger...” I literally quote the appeal of one woman who has three children: the gas was turned off, and she owed 30 thousand, but she there was nowhere to get them from.
There were hundreds of these appeals, and they reached Kadyrov. He began to very harshly criticize those who, in general, at the behest of his nephew, started this whole campaign of collecting money from the population, with extortion. And they don’t cut anything anymore, but the problem is that they don’t restore it, and it’s all hanging.
This is how everything is decided. But Chechen judges... I believe that some of them are among the most courageous and understanding, knowledgeable Russian law who accept it - I don’t even know them in the country. And this is in Chechnya, where the region itself leaves such an imprint that people are generally silent, afraid to speak in this judicial system. Our judges are terribly vulnerable people, but in Chechnya judges are fighting for their dignity.
One wit suggested playing golf at the Jõhvi stadium. I would really like to play football!
On March 6, 2012, the Jõhvi football club “Lokomotiv” signed an agreement with the local government that for ten years the only football field in the city would be leased from the only football club Jõhvi. It sounds proud if you don’t get close to the stadium itself, where today you can’t not only hold competitions or training, but even walk.
Why a stadium if you have a vegetable garden?
“I’m ashamed to walk past our city stadium today. Once upon a time, in the 1970s and 80s, the whole city gathered here to cheer for professional football teams"Estonslanza". In winter, a skating rink was built on the field, and we teenagers spent days and evenings here. Hundreds of Jõhvis residents came to cheer for Orbit, on the basis of which Lokomotiv was created. You can see for yourself what’s left of the stadium today,” said football club board member Sergei Ivanov and gestured around his “garden.”
The name of the stadium as a vegetable garden is not accidental. To call a dilapidated administrative building, covered with 700-kilogram conveyor belts for mines, which will collapse today or tomorrow, tattered stands, a partially preserved fence and a clearing dug up by moles, a stadium is beyond words. At the same time, Jõhvi remains the last city in the country that does not have not only a field with a synthetic surface, but also a regular ground where people could play the most popular sport in the world - football.
Over the past ten years, promises to restore the stadium have been made exclusively before elections. Eight years ago, a project for a grandiose structure was even drawn up, but it safely crawled under the cloth, where it collects dust to this day. An attempt was made to build a synthetic field near the Jõhvi Russian Gymnasium, but part of the territory was turned into a tennis court, and the other was filled with concrete.
“We are not looking for someone to blame. Our task today is to find an opportunity to restore the stadium. Accepting the field in this state, we were aware that it was not suitable for anything. And the city honestly told us that there is no money for its restoration and is not expected,” says Ivanov.
Giants, oh!
Jõhvi is considered the most beautiful and modern city Northeast. However, in the same Ahtme part of Kohtla-Järve there is a field, in Narva there is also one, and another, more modern one is about to be opened, and in Sillamäe there is one, and in Rakvere there are already three fields. It is clear that most of funds were invested by city authorities, who understand what sports means for self-government. However, local industrial giants also provide serious support.
Out of curiosity, “DD” turned to the VRG Grupp company, which employs a good half of Jõhvis residents. “Yes, indeed, we received a petition from FC Lokomotiv asking for help. We receive several every week worth attention requests for sponsorship, so we have made it a rule to discuss all received requests once a month,” answered the head of the company’s public relations service, Yulia Alexandrova. And since the request from Lokomotiv only arrived on Monday (16.04), they did not have time to discuss it yet, but they promised to treat it with due attention.
“We try to be active in the region and support both sports and cultural institutions and events,” added Alexandrova. “Unfortunately, more often than not there is less free money than problems waiting to be solved.”
Europe will help. Who else?
Sports adviser to the Jõhvi parish government Hardi Rayend explained that it is difficult to make serious complaints against the authorities: “The previous leadership had other priorities, which is why today we have the Jõhvi Philharmonic, which is very expensive for the parish. But we must be guided by what we have and move forward.”
Rayend says that Government program development of culture and sports gives the go-ahead for local governments to transfer social facilities to the third sector. There are a huge number of representative offices of European funds operating in Estonia, which cooperate only with non-profit associations. It will be easier for MTÜ to get money for the renovation of the stadium.
“It’s surprising to me that previously the stadium was rented to the club for only a year. It is clear that under such conditions no one was particularly interested in it. (Thanks to the guys who independently renovated the lawn, caught moles and cleaned the area of syringes - note by I.K.). Now the stadium has been given to Lokomotiv for ten years, and we have begun to implement their idea with funds.”
By the fall, an application will be submitted to the Chamber of Cooperation of the North-East Coast, with which negotiations have already been held, and the stadium as a children's sports facility could be given about 100 thousand euros. This is just enough to cover. There are plans to contact other European funds. And I really want to believe that business giants, as well as politicians, who have already been approached for support, will find an opportunity to give Jõhvi children a new field. Not to Lokomotiv, but to the city itself, since the stadium still remains the property of Jõhvi.
In a couple of weeks, Ramzan Kadyrov will confirm his power in Chechnya for the first time through direct elections. At the same time, the residents of the republic have no real choice. The level of repression over the past year and a half has gone off scale so much that even simply not coming to the polling station and not supporting Kadyrov is, to put it mildly, an extreme act.
The Chechen authorities are fiercely persecuting those whose loyalty to Kadyrov may raise even the slightest doubt. People who demonstrate dissatisfaction or disagreement with what is happening in one way or another are subjected to terrible, demonstrative punishments. The harsh repressions apparently aim to remind the residents of Chechnya “who’s boss” and, in principle, tries to block the flow of any negative information from the republic that could affect the Kremlin’s attitude towards the Chechen leadership.
The Human Rights Watch report, “‘Like walking through a minefield.’ Chechen authorities against dissenters,” details the new round of repressions in Chechnya.
About the regime of personal tyranny built in Chechnya over last decade, talked and wrote a lot. In the republic, the only law fits into the succinct formulation “Ramzan has been said” - that’s how he said it, so it will be. Often this “said” does not in any way correspond to Russian and international legal norms.
And in the last year different people from Chechnya they told me in different words it’s the same thing: it’s impossible to live with this level of pressure and humiliation, it’s unbearable, it’s worse than it was during the war. And repeating, like a mantra, “more terrible than it was during the war,” it really became creepy. I can't wrap my head around it. With a shudder you remember this war - protracted, bloody, dirty, with bombings, shelling, brutal cleansing, thousands of dead, tortured and “disappeared” in the hands of the federals. What can compare with that concentration of horror? And the people who lived in this war, not only plunged into it from time to time, they say - yes, but now it’s even worse, then at least we could do everything so that the world knew about what was happening, but now we are suffocating, they are trying to take away from us even our dignity.
“When you remember the war,” explained one Grozny woman this summer, “you understand that then we had less fear than now. Fear of a bomb, a bullet - we lived with it, I could, I can live with it... but with such constant pressure, terrible humiliation, I can’t, I just can’t, I’m ashamed of myself... they build me up every day, they force me to walk on a thread. My human dignity is being taken away piece by piece every day... Walking every day is like walking through a minefield, always looking around everywhere, waiting for danger, waiting for someone to take you away..."
And there is no one braver than such people, who, in an atmosphere of paralyzing fear, still dare to speak.
January 17th, 2016 , 12:22 am
This morning was not an easy one. Realizing that there was nowhere to wait any longer, I decided to update the Tooligram license. I was going to do this yesterday, and even the day before yesterday, but an unknown force stopped not only my actions, but also my thoughts. I was ready for a lot of problems. The purchase of anti-captcha gave me a special headache, but it has to be done! She brought tea and got down to business. The first pleasant thing was the fact that TIG started working immediately as soon as the monthly license was paid for. I didn’t have to install anything again, write to technical support or perform other dances with a tambourine. Oh, yes, I completely forgot to mention - the subscription block was removed from my work account three days ago, and it’s even hard for me to find the words, what a joy and relief it is! Catching the first block is like getting burned on milk. In other words, I'm now running around with my acc. natalia_stekloduv like with a crystal handbag, and I’m afraid to even breathe on it.
In the TIG chat, people are actively complaining about bans. There are rumors that Instagram has started a purge and the sanctions will last until the end of January; it was similar last year. As you might have guessed, I was scared to continue working. Therefore, the second working account @big_beads took on the role of a pioneer. It is not yet a month old, there are no requests for it in the process of work, therefore losing and restoring it is not so annoying. In general, if you have embarked on this slippery slope, you must always be internally prepared for both light bans and complete loss of your account. I comply with the limits, and now the recommendations for subscriptions are no more than 200 at a time. When everything worked - it was just such a feeling of uhhh! It's like starting a rusty tractor XDD
As for my personal Instagram, I decided not to touch it for now. Because I want to read the tape. And to see that my friends and acquaintances give me likes, and not a bunch of leftist people))
I have plans to launch on Etsy, and accordingly, a third working account on Instagram, traffic from which will be redirected to the site.
If they had told me a year ago that I needed to work exactly like this (several accounts, several sites, traffic division), I would have covered my face with my hands in horror and hid under the blanket. But everything is not so scary!
Of course, I think you are interested in the results of all the pandemonium described above. So, to the account natalia_stekloduv 2 months, at the time of installation TIG 13 subscribers, after a month of work 672 subscribers, of which 7 leads and 5 closed transactions (5 satisfied customers who sent such reviews that I can hardly believe that they are talking about my work :). I understand that 672 is not enough for a month, but I didn’t want to anger Instagram (and still got banned), I set no more than 700 subscriptions per day with a limit of 1500.
It seems that on January 25, Business Youth is launching the Real Instagram course, and I am thinking about the future with a little concern. Firstly, the influx of new business accounts, and secondly, constant fluctuations in the intervals of what is permitted. The course will teach everything that I already do + what I am not going to do (auto-posting, delegation). But overall the course is fun.
For anyone who has a vital need to boost their account, I can give advice - don’t be afraid :) I took on Tuligram without knowing anything about promotion and generally doubting its reality. You can still catch the last carriage of the departing train :)
If you have questions about this entire topic, or are interested in more detailed information about what goes where and why, let me know :)
