← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Walter Yannis
Thread ID: 19773 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2005-08-22
2005-08-22 20:01 | User Profile
[URL=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/22/011.html ]Moscow Times[/URL] Monday, August 22, 2005. Page 3. 1,100 Troops Sent to a Village By Nabi Abdullaev
More than 1,000 police officers and troops patrolled a village in the Astrakhan region on Friday to maintain calm after seven people were injured and nine homes were set ablaze in violent ethnic clashes.
Tempers flared after a young Kalmyk was shot and killed in a clash between several Chechens and Kalmyks in a bar in Yandyki on Tuesday night, Interfax reported, citing Astrakhan police.
After the man was buried Thursday, 300 Kalmyks went on a rampage through the village, beating local Chechens and setting their homes on fire. Local police were powerless to stop them.
Seven men, including a local policeman, were hospitalized and nine houses were destroyed, according to the Astrakhan branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry.
Kalmyks, a largely Buddhist ethnic group of Mongol ancestry, are centered in the Kalmykia region, which neighbors Astrakhan. Many Chechens have left the turmoil in predominantly Muslim Chechnya to settle in other regions.
Astrakhan's regional prosecutor, Yevgeny Volkolupov, denied that the outbreak of violence reflected tensions between the two ethnic groups. "The reasons for the disturbances have nothing to do with national or religious motives," he said on NTV television.
Of the 3,545 residents of Yandyki, 237 are Chechen and 288 are Kalmyk, Interfax reported, citing local officials. Most of the other residents are ethnic Russians.
On Friday, villagers rallied to demand that the Chechens who had instigated the conflict be expelled, said Konstantin Markelov, head of the Astrakhan governor's administration. Their demands will be considered by Astrakhan Governor Alexander Zhilkin, he said.
Markelov also said the police chief for the region's Limansky District, which includes Yandyki, was fired on Friday.
In Yandyki, troops backed up by armored vehicles patrolled the streets. They barred nonresidents from entering the village.
Kalmyk police stepped up security on the region's border with Astrakhan on Friday, acting Kalmyk Interior Minister Vadim Korneyev told Interfax.
A total of 1,100 policemen and Interior Ministry troops, marines and Justice Ministry special forces entered Yandyki on Thursday and quickly quelled the disorder, Astrakhan police said. Twelve people were detained.
General Prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov sent his deputy, Nikolai Shepel, to Yandyki to oversee an investigation into public disturbance, manslaughter, hooliganism and property damage.
Dmitry Kozak, the presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, declared the situation under control.
Meanwhile, an official delegation from Chechnya, led by Chechen State Council member Akty Ismailov, headed to Astrakhan to try to help dissolve lingering tensions with the Chechen diaspora there.
"We fully trust the leadership of the Astrakhan region and the law enforcement officers. We know that they will assess the situation objectively, but we wanted to help Astrakhan authorities resolve this conflict," Ismailov said, Interfax reported.
Chechen diasporas in various regions have often clashed violently with other diasporas and local residents in past years.
2005-08-22 20:14 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Walter Yannis] Astrakhan's regional prosecutor, Yevgeny Volkolupov, denied that the outbreak of violence reflected tensions between the two ethnic groups. "The reasons for the disturbances have nothing to do with national or religious motives," he said on NTV television. So, in a town in which there are only a few hundred Chechens and a few hundred Kalmyk, and groups comprised entirely of Kalmyk battle against groups comprised entirely of Chechens, this guy states (presumably with a straight face) that this has nothing to do with tensions between those ethnic groups. Either this guy is a baldfaced liar, or, even worse, he actually believes that.
2005-08-23 03:37 | User Profile
Here's the deal: Kalmyks are non-white and therefore more cohesive and gave a good fight. Chechens are "special" in the sense that they are agressive and will prey on any outsiders even when in minority. If whites had possesed even 1/10th of the same, Chechens would be scared to show up outside of their mountains.
Violence and standing up to your enemies despite all odds works.