The families of the four Georgian minor, kidnaped by the Pro-Russian regime of “South-Ossetia” and the Russian occupiers for alleged crossing of so-called borders of “South Ossetia”, complain they are blackmailed.  Reportedly, they receive phone calls from the Russian backed Ossetian terrorsits, who urge them to swap their children on the criminals arrested by Georgian law enforcers.
Thomas Hammarberg, the EU Commissioner for Human Rights plans to arrive in Tskhinvali tomorrow to meet with the minor hostages and join the negotiations.
Aleko Sabadze, Viktor Buchukuri, Levan Khmiadashvili and Giorgi Romelashvili were arrested on November 4 by Russian occupants and taken to Tskhinvali. The Pro-Kremlin regime  have charged the teenagers with illegal crossing of border and carrying explosives.

Russian occupiers kidnapped two Georgian anglers in the seaside settlement of Anaklia today. Chabuka Oghli and Gia Gabelaia were fishing near Pichori resort, when Russian sierrs assaulted them. The anglers tried to escape but the occupiers laid siege with boats and took the anglers to Ochamchire.

Four Georgian teenagers abducted from the village of Tirdznisi, Gori district remain in the Tskhinvali isolator.

The Russia backed “South Ossetian” marionette regime will presumably sue the detainees under several “paragraphs” on Saturday. The schoolchildren abducted from Tirdznisi three days ago have been accused of “illegally crossing” the so-called “boundary” of Tskhinvali, robbery and carrying explosive materials.

Tbilisi asks for international organizations` active participation in releasing of the teenagers. The TV station of the Tskhinvali marionette regime released a footage depicting the detainees on Friday.

In the near future the number of gangs of Russian troops in the North Caucasus will increase four-fold. It is reported by ‘Nezavisimaya Gazeta’, citing unnamed military sources.

According to this Moscow edition, the transfer of the gang “474 th individual automobile Battalion” has been completed from the city of Dmitrov, Moscow region, into the locality Millerovo of Rostov region.

In addition, in the Chechen village of Borzoi an occupying gang of “8-th individual mountain rifle brigade” was formed.

Finally, in the Buro (Vladikavkaz) city, in the base of a large occupation gang “58-th army” another gang called “Operational Command” was formed, which includes 7 gang groups of “motorized infantry” and one “tank brigade.”

Troop surge in the North Caucasus, is associated with the preparation of Russia’s new war of aggression against Georgia, according to some observers.

According to the plans of Russian soldiery, part of the reinforced Russian gangs will be thrown at war with the Mujahideen of the Caucasus Emirate.

Moscow’s “Scholar-on-Caucasus”, some Mr Popov, told journalists that the militarization of the Caucasus occupied by Russia in recent years does not reduce the number of Mujahideen.

“Policemen and soldiers are many, but to protect the rights of an individual (infidels or apostates – KC) there is no one” – lamented the “scholar”.

Another Moscow’s scholar, expert of Institute of Political and Military Analysis Mr Khramchikhin, said that Popov’s statement about the Caucasian Mujahideen – a deceptive stuffing, specifically, to lull Georgia. He points out:

“If, in August last year, we won the war in Georgia, now our ground troops are brought to the point that they can not win even in Georgia.”

According to the military analyst Khramchikhin, the reinforcement of Russian gang troops in the North Caucasus has nothing to do with the Jihad in the Caucasus, Jihad continues “same way as six months ago”.

The Pro-Kremlin regime “South Ossetian” side detained four Georgian teenagers in Tskhinvali at 11pm on November 4, the breakaway region’s official website reported.

According to the same report, “South Ossetian law” enforcement officers seized four “hand-grenades and explosives” from the Georgian teenagers.

All the four Georgians are residents of Tirdznisi, a village in the Gori district located roughly five kilometers away from Tskhinvali.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said that four teenagers disappeared from the Gori district at noon on November 4. The Ministry demanded “immediate and unconditional release of teenagers.”

01.11.09 14:29

Representatives of the Tskhinvali marionette regime have not allowed children of Akhalgori district to cross the so-called boundary of the Russian-occupied region of South Ossetia on the pretext of the children`s security.

They assert, that participation of the 34 teenagers in the event scheduled in Tbilisi, had not been agreed with Tskhinvali. Although the local population of Akhalgori voice other reason of the restriction.

They think, the marionette regime has closed the so-called boundary in response to the suspension of electric power supply by Tbilisi. Locals say, the district has been left in blackout for three days.

Source: www.rustavi2.com

Under atrocities of Russian invaders in the Caucasus, democratic separatism turns into an all-Caucasus Jihad, confirms the American edition of The Washington Post.

The most dangerous situation for the infidels and apostates have developed in the Province of Ghalghaycho (AKA Ingushetia), its correspondent Philip P. Pan witnesses.

A young woman Madina Albakova has told to newspaper that militants from the Russian gang of “FSB” shot her 20-year-old husband, a student Movsar Merzhoyev, and then planted a rifle next to his body and said he was a Mujahid.

They also robbed the house, took everything of value — the family’s savings, a set of dishes, even baby clothes, Albakova told.

“Such heavy-handed tactics by the Russian security forces have helped transform the long-running separatist rebellion in Chechnya into something potentially worse for the Russian (invaders – KC): a Jihad that has spread across the Northern Caucasus (Caucasus Emirate – KC), draws support from various nationalities and gaining strength”, the newspaper writes.

According to diplomats, a key reason why Russia has been reluctant to support sanctions against Iran is that Kremlin is worried Tehran might in retaliation to back the Mujahideen.

Russian leadership has long blamed Jihad in the Caucasus on some “Muslim extremists” backed by some “foreign governments and terrorist networks”, but “true Islam is relatively new here”, the author writes.

In 2007, the Emir of the Caucasian Mujahideen Dokku Umarov declared establishing of the Caucasus Emirate. In April, he issued a video and announced reviving of Brigade of Martyrs that carried out sabotage attacks across Russia from 2002 to 2006.

According to the American edition, a major figure in the Jihad in the Caucasus is Sheik Sayeed Buryatsky, a native of Siberia, “around whom ethnic and local factions can unite: he is an outsider and has unusual heritage”.

(We would like to specify thereupon that Sayeed Buryatsky himself has repeatedly stressed that he is an ordinary Mujahid. His goal is participating in Jihad and reporting to the Mujahideen and the Muslims the knowledge of Islam, which he has – KC).

Sayeed Buryatsky (Alexander Tikhomirov) – half-Russian and half-Buryat – accepted Islam in Siberia, studied in Egypt, and last year (actually in the summer of 2007 – KC) joined the Mujahedeen of the Caucasus Emirate.

Kadyrov, the Kremlin’s protege in Chechnya, is trying to prove that Sheikh Sayeed is not a real Muslim and paranoiacly accusing him of “using drugs to brainwash recruits”.

The youths of Ingushetia loves Sayeed Buryatsky, Maksharip Aushev recently killed by infidels and apostates has testified in an interview with American newspaper. Though he opposed the Caucasus Emirate, Aushev said that most Ingush believe they would be better off living under Sharia law than with the current occupation Russian authorities with its horrific crimes.

Aushev has also believed that many of the Mujahideen following a way of Jihad because of the atrocities committed by Russian terrorists from “FSB” gang.

“According to Magomed Khazbiev, an opposition leader who was blocked from running in local elections this month by the authorities, the Mujahideen promise something that the government (infidels and apostates – KC) has been unwilling or unable to deliver: justice”, the American newspaper writes.

On October 25, Maksharip Aushev, an Ingush businessman and civil opposition leader, was murdered by unknown gunmen who sprayed his car with more than 60 bullets.

Shortly before his death, filmmakers Dom Rotheroe and Antony Butts spoke with him for their film on the conflict in the Russian republic of Ingushetia.

Recently, the Russian republic of Ingushetia has become the most dangerous place in the Russian federation. Endemic corruption combined with a battle between Islamic extremists and unaccountable Moscow-backed security forces has plunged the area into violence.

The conflict has left many Ingushetians in despair; their human rights suppressed and their faith in the authorities in tatters. It is a cycle of bloody atrocity and counter-atrocity that seems to have no end.

While the Ingush stayed out of the Chechens’ recent wars for independence from Russia, this did not prevent the violence from finally spilling over.

In June 2004, rebels attacked Ingushetia’s main city of Nazran and killed scores of security officials.

With Russia by then pretty much in control of Chechnya, Chechen rebels wanted to spread the war into neighbouring Muslim republics. And in Ingushetia discontent had been growing ever since Vladimir Putin, the then Russian president, installed the unpopular Murat Zyazikov as president there in 2002.

‘Disappeared’

Trapped in the middle of the decade-long dirty war are 500,000 Ingush.

Maksharip Aushev, a businessman and civil opposition leader, told us that he carries a gun “because it’s dangerous out there”.

“At any moment they can turn up in camouflage and kidnap you – and then you’ll just be disappeared.

“Although the gun will not protect you at least you’ll manage to do something so they don’t torture you, don’t take you away – so you don’t just go missing like most people usually do here,” he said.

Things changed for businessman Maksharip three years ago when his nephew, who had refused to become an informant, and son were snatched off a train by security forces. They were taken to Chechnya and tortured.

“As soon as my son and nephew were abducted, I stepped out,” he explained, saying that he never wanted to be involved in politics but felt forced into it.

Maksharip blamed the Russian security forces (FSB) and rallied public protests, which led to the release of his son and nephew.

In the process he also kicked off widespread civil opposition to the regime and became one of the most outspoken leaders of the opposition to Zyazikov, a former KGB officer and an ally of Putin.

According to Magomed Mutsolgov, the co-founder of the local human rights group Mashr, it was after Zyazikov became president that anyone even vaguely suspected of opposing the regime began getting visits from the security forces.

Mutsolgov co-founded Mashr when his younger brother disappeared four years ago.

“Altogether we have had over 500 cases of kidnapping. Some of those people were found dead,” he says.

‘Nothing left to lose’

The violence has been increasing exponentially. Mashr estimates that 212 people were killed in 2008. By August 2009 that number had already been reached.

Yet violence by the security forces is only one side of Ingushetia’s mayhem. In the last seven years, Islamic militants have killed over 200 policemen, soldiers and government officials.

The most devastating attack happened in August 2009 when a suicide bomber drove a truck into Nazran’s main police station, killing 24 people and injuring more than 160.

In recent years religious extremists among the rebels have turned the war for Chechen independence into a jihad for a Sharia-based emirate covering all of Russia’s Caucasian Muslim republics.

They have also started targeting civilians whom they deem un-Islamic.

Recently, two sisters, aged 52 and 60, were shot to death in a roadside kiosk, supposedly for selling alcohol.

“They are psychotic. Putting seven, eight bullets into women. What Sharia law are they talking about?” the victim’s sister asks.

“We have nothing more to be afraid of. We have gone through all this and are ready for anything. We have lost our parents, husbands. What else can we be afraid of? We have nothing left to lose.”

Yet even this family lay the final blame less on the militants than on the authorities and the lawlessness and corruption they believe Zyazikov fostered.

Poverty

Ingushetia is not only Russia’s most violent republic. It is also its poorest.

“Zyazikov declared that over 70 factories had been built in the republic, that the unemployment problem had been solved, etc etc. We risked our lives trying to prove to the Russian government that there were no factories, that the huge amounts of money allocated to us were simply being fiddled away by Zyazikov and his people,” Maksharip said.

By October 2008, opposition to Zyazikov had grown to such a pitch and the violence and corruption had become so brazen that Moscow finally replaced him with the popular ex-general, Yunus-bek Yevkurov.

The new leader set out to tackle the corruption and violence and brought advisors from the civil opposition into his administration.

He also sacked some corrupt officials, tried to initiate talks with the rebels and gained the public’s trust.

But then, on June 22, 2009, his presidential convoy was rammed by a suicide bomber.

Yevkurov ended up in a critical condition in hospital.

Extra-judicial executions

In his absence, and with the Kremlin demanding even better results against the rebels, allegations of extra-judicial executions by the security forces began flooding in.

Many believe it is Russia’s FSB, the former KGB, that is orchestrating the cycle of violence in Ingushetia.

Their agents have even been caught firing on Ingush policemen, raising suspicions that Moscow is deliberately keeping the fractious north Caucasus destablised in order to justify its controlling military presence.

Others believe the motive is also the money that those in power can make from conflict.

“As the Russian saying goes, ‘It is good fishing in troubled waters.’ These kind of civil wars are started to make it easier to steal money,” Maksharip said.

Suspicion

Suspicion of the FSB here is reminiscent of Soviet times. Several human rights campaigners have been killed in the north Caucasus in the last few years.

Aslambek Paev, a human rights campaigner, told us: “Everything is monitored. You have to be very careful and observant when you work. Probably I’m the next one.

“What difference does it make for us? We know we’re dead anyway, that sooner or later they’ll kill us.”

Yevkurov recovered from the attack on him and returned to office.

He has since sacked his entire cabinet for making problems worse in his absence.

But it is yet to be seen how far his promised reforms will go – or indeed how effective they can be in a land which both the militants and elements of Russia’s power structures seem determined to keep on the boil.

Losing control

One month before his death, the security forces had stopped Maksharip’s car and attempted to take him into custody after he left a government meeting.

He escaped only because a crowd of motorists, including an aide to the governor, surrounded him.

“If I had been a half-metre closer, they would have tied me up and I would have disappeared without a trace,” he told Caucasian Knot, a website that covers the region.

Yevkurov has reached out to human rights activists and the opposition, offering them a degree of protection, but Aushev’s killing suggests that he, and by extension the Kremlin, may be losing control over the overlapping law enforcement agencies fighting a growing Islamist insurgency in the region.

Though deep in mourning, Maksharip Aushev’s family agreed to our film being broadcast. His assassination highlights the continuing perils faced by anyone who seeks to defend basic freedoms in Ingushetia, raising fears of further violence in the region.

Source: Al Jazeera

Russia’s neighbors should not take responsibility, trying to change their relations with Moscow, because it is the Kremlin’s actions determine the existing tension, says a well-known political expert, Senior Fellow, Jamestown Foundation Vladimir Socor.

The analyst was critical about the statement made by NATO’s General Secretary that Russia poses no threat to the Baltic countries.

According to Vladimir Socor, Anders Fogh Rasmussen should have been more accurate, and mention the “potential threat”.

“I think that the small neighbors of Russia should not take responsibility, trying to improve relations with Russia, because these relations are strained because of Russia itself. Any country – small or big, the United States or the Baltic states – will make a mistake, if they are to deal with Russia as if the improvement of relations depends on them”, – said Vladimir Socor in an interview.

According to him, also is wrong to try to improve relations with Russia, refusing to give a fair assessment of the heritage of the Soviet Union, including the crimes of Stalinism, which the Kremlin is trying to rehabilitate.

“Both regimes were totalitarian and belong to the same category”, – noted political scientist.

The expert confirmed that Russia’s actions in the Baltic countries do not allow to hope that Moscow itself wants to improve the relations.

“First and foremost, we need a change in the behavior of Russia. For example, Russia should stop – but I doubt it will happen – to carry out the dirty and corrupt practices in business, to buy media in Lithuania, use relations with the oligarchs in the three Baltic countries, influence the situation from the inside, she should stop pretending that there was no occupation, should not considered NATO as an enemy “- Vladimir Socor demanded of Russia.

A Russian gang “Duma” promptly adopted on October 24 in the third and final reading amendments to the “law” “On defense”, proposed by the formal leader of Russia Medvedev.

They significantly expand the geography and the operational use of Russian bandit “armed forces” abroad.

The new “law” “permits” Moscow to conduct occupational war around the world. Previously, it has already caused serious concern from Ukraine’s side.

Valid for the moment “defense law” permits the use of an occupational Russian army outside Russia only in three cases: “to repel aggression, to protect the integrity and inviolability of the territory of Russia and for international peacekeeping operations.”

Now, the task forces will consist of “an attack on the troops of Russia or other countries stationed abroad, preventing aggression against another state or the protection of the citizens of Russia abroad, and the fight against sea piracy”.

Under the new KGB Chekist “law”, the decision on the operational use of Russian bandit “armed forces” is made by Medvedev.

The October 21 “Law” was promulgated by the State Duma in the second reading. As reported, introducing the “law” to the Chekist MPs, the leader of “Duma defense committee” Zavarzin, on the second reading in the finalization of the document was filed by seven corrections. They wore either specifying or purely linguistic character. The Chekist “deputies” without discussion then voted unanimously for the adoption of “law” enforcement.

According to Zavarzin, “this law is long overdue and its relevance is beyond doubt”.

“The known recent events have highlighted the legal gap. Adoption of the law will strengthen the security of our state and our citizens “, – he told journalists.

“Known Events” – last year Russia’s attack on Georgia, in which Russia has accused Georgia itself …. Medvedev, proposing amendments to the “law” does not conceal that their need was caused by these events.

Observers are inclined to link the initiative with the preparation of Russia attacking Ukraine.

In the new interpretation of “law” quite fit such instances of Russian forces as, for example, in the summer of 2006, when the leader of Russia, Putin ordered his gang to “find and destroy” the Mujahideen, who arrested and then executed four Russian terrorists in Iraq, who operated under the cover of “Russian diplomats”.

If the law was enforced in the autumn of that year, “lawful” entry for the Russian aggression against Georgia could be the arrest of four Russian officers from terrorist gang “GRU of Russia” for subversive activities against Georgia.

And that time’s “defense minister” Ivanov, who said that if attempts to return to Ukraine the illegally seized by Russia Ukrainian facilities, for Russian pirate fleet guarding their Russian gangs may use weapons, would have able to immediately move from words to deeds.

Recall that the so-called “Russian Federation (Russia)” is a completely unlawful State formation from the perspective of international law and international legal norms, because none of the forced incorporation of about 100 different countries never signed the so-called “Federal contract” about its desire to join the “federal relations” with Russia.

Neither a referendum in non of this countries has been held on the desire of its peoples to be in one state together with the Russians.

26.10.09 18:20

The fate of sixteen ethnic Georgians, who have been detained by Russian occupiers in the woods of the village Gremiskhevi, Dusheti district, will be decided tomorrow. Russian generals and the representatives of the puppet regime say they will inspect the area where the sixteen Georgians were arrested. If the occupiers confirm that this is the territory beyond the `borders of South Ossetia`, the detainees will be released, if vice versa, they will be taken to Tskhinvali and brought to `justice`.
Russian occupiers kidnapped sixteen ethnic Georgians from the village of Gremiskhevi, Dusheti region, which borders the occupied Akhalgori district of “South Ossetia”. They were the locals from the village, who went to the forest for firewood.
One of the kidnapped managed to give a call to relatives and told them they were detained.
The representatives of the puppet regime have confirmed the detention of ethnic Georgians, whom they accuse of crossing the `borders of South Ossetia` and illegal wood-cutting,

26.10.09 10:27

Ossetian gunmen have kidnapped sixteen ethnic Georgians from the village of Gremiskhevi, Dusheti region, which borders the occupied Akhalgori district of South Ossetia. They were the locals from the village, who went to the forest for firewood.
One of the kidnapped managed to give a call to relatives and told them they were detained.

The representatives of the puppet regime have confirmed the detention of ethnic Georgians, whom they accuse of crossing the `borders of  South Ossetia` and illegal wood-cutting,

Publication time: 24 October 2009, 13:38

Organization of the Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus, which operates in Georgia, stated that it “recognizes the independence of Chechnya and Ingushetia, and calls upon the OSCE, UN, EU, Council of Europe and NATO also to recognize their independent.”

This statement was made by chairman of the “Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus” Zaal Kasrelishvili at a press conference in Tbilisi.

“For the avoidance of genocide against the Caucasian nations and restoration of historical justice, guided by the fundamental principle of international law on the right of nations to self-determination, “Confederation of Peoples of the Caucasus”, recognizes the independence of Chechnya and Ingushetia,”- said Kasrelishvili.

“Confederation” expressed its willingness to cooperate with those countries and their legitimate authorities as with full and independent neighboring states and calls on the UN, EU, Council of Europe, NATO’s leadership, as well as Russia and the United States “to recognize the independence of Chechnya and Ingushetia.”

“Confederation” proposes “by civilized methods to prepare the recognition of Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, North Ossetia and Adygeya. To conduct popular elections with the use of mechanisms of international law, the validity of which will be checked by international observers in the territories, like Chechnya and Ingushetia, as well as in refugee-populated points of these republics.”

Special detachments of Russian terrorist gang formations of “FSB of Russia”, in the morning on October 23 began to pull the barbed wire along the demarcation line between occupied by Russia South Ossetia and the rest of Georgia.

It was revealed by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili at the opening of the new settlement of refugees.

As President of Georgia stated, those on the other side are “our people too”, and most of the fled from there are ethnic Ossetians.

According to Saakashvili, on the other side of barbed wire, people are starving and living in tents, despite the fact that government-invader Russia provided (on paper) a huge sum of money.

Saakashvili is confident that Moscow will “not get away” with its temporary occupation of Georgian territories.

Further he said that in the history of Kartli, “different conquerors came down from the mountains, whose names are not remembered by history, nor ourselves.”

“And the present conquerors, also die and evaporate from our land. Kartli is the heart of Georgia, and Georgia is eternal”, – declared Saakashvili.

He then stressed that the presence of occupiers in Georgia “will be temporary, as in cases with their predecessors.”

“More than 60 thousand people lived before the war in the former Autonomous District of South Ossetia, but today there are just a little more than 10 000 people. These people fled from the brutal force, which urged that it came for their freedom. All this towers of lies that have been erected,  are destroyed once and for all”, – said Mikheil Saakashvili.

“It is symbolic that this morning the representatives of the FSB began to erect barbed wire, they are creating a control zone, and we are using the best technology in building a modern highway from Tbilisi to Gori, and after will prolong them up to Black Sea coast.

They care about the imperialist grandeur, and we care about our each and every citizen. They care about power, about whom to punish, injure, destroy their future, and we respect our citizens, and then other Countries”, – Saakashvili stated.

Within the last several weeks the FSB (Federal Security Service, former KGB) of Russia has made several attempts to steal the main domain of Kavkaz-Center kavkazcenter.com. A number of powerful hacker attacks on the KC server in Sweden, as well as unsuccessful attempts to fraudulently gain access to the KC domain, using fake requests to the operating domain company, have been undertaken with that that purpose.

The administration of KC has recorded and documented those attempts. At the present a question on the official address to the authorities of Sweden with inquiry about to conduct investigation on the specified facts, is being considered. It is established that the FSB operates both through its immediate officers and under cover of the puppet Kadyrov’s structures. After a series of failed attempts of breaking and stealing of domain, Kadyrov’s apostates last Monday contacted by telephone with the administrative contact person of KC and offered to sell the domain kavkazcenter.com, promising a “good price”.

It pays attention to the fact that the FSB has begun to take special activity after a scandalous program on Swedish radio, and a possible involvement in its organization of a certain Kalle Kniivilä, the former Moscow correspondent of press organ of Central Committee of Communist Party of Finland “Kansan Uutiset”. After that program, at least 2 people, co-operating with KC, have declared their resignation without explanation of reasons. Editorial of KC has a serious suspicion that these people have been subjected to threats and pressure from the FSB. These suspicions are only intensified when last Monday the officials of Kadyrov’s puppet regime contacted by phone with the just appointed contact person of KC.

The editorial of KC is planning to publish the details of that phone call and a conversation later. We would like to specify thereupon on the fact that against a background of sharply increased pressure on the KC and its employees, in Russia’s press, in particular, in the newspaper of “Trud”, was a news that the Ministry of Defense has prepared a special hacker unit, which will be “conducting targeted hacker attacks on the media resources of the enemy”. According to the “Trud” newspaper, the direct order on establishing of such units has been personally given by the ringleader of the Kremlin Medvedev. Let us also remind that KC had already lost its domain, on autumn of 2002.

Back then, on the second day after the capture of “Nord-Ost” by the sabotage squad of Movsar Barayev, the domain company http://www.netsol.com/ (Network Solution, USA) at the request of the FSB had simply transferred to the Lubyanka the domain of KC http://www.kavkaz.org. To all inquiries by the administration of KC Netsol.com responded with formal replies, despite the fact that KC had addressed to the company in 5 minutes after the loss of control of domain with the granting of all necessary documents. (All correspondence with the company Netsol.com is retained). The domain name kavkaz.org is still has not been given back to the KC.

Source: www.kavkacenter.com

See More about Russian terrorist Network: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Business_Network

Over 2,000 ethnic Georgians have been deported from Russia since late September, 2006 against the background of Russo-Georgian tensions, which hit boiling point following a spy row between the two countries.

Zurab Muzashvili, who suffered from tuberculosis, died in a detention center in the Russian town of Engels in the Saratov District in January, 2007. Manana Jabelia, 51, died in a detention center in Moscow in December, 2006 and Tengiz Togonidze, 48, died of an asthma attack on October 17 in Domodedovo airport in Moscow, shortly before he was due to be deported to Georgia.

The Georgian authorities claim that all three people died due to negligence on the part of the Russian authorities, in particular their failure to provide adequate medical treatment to detainees.

“We have decided to record approximately 150 cases and submit them because these are the strongest cases,”

The Georgian authorities maintain that the Russian side is in violation of the following provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights:

• Prohibition of collective expulsion of aliens;
• Procedural safeguards relating to expulsion of aliens: the deportees were not allowed to submit arguments against their deportation;
• Right to life;
• Prohibition of torture: deportees were detained in unbearable conditions;
• Right to liberty and security: deportees were arbitrarily detained and they were prevented from challenging the lawfulness of their detention;
• Right to respect for private and family life: school principals in Moscow were instructed by the authorities to forward private information about pupils with Georgian ethnicity;
• Protection of property: access to property in the Russian Federation was denied to deportees;
• Right to education: Russian authorities requested that school administrations submit information about Georgian pupils to local divisions of Militia (Russian Police Service); the pupils and teachers of Russian schools in Georgia under the supervision of the Russian Federation (N9 School in Tbilisi and N17 in Batumi) were denied access to the schools;
• Right to an effective remedy;
• Prohibition of discrimination: deportations were carried out on national ground;
• Limitation on use of restrictions on rights.

Even after partial collapse of the USSR, Russia remains to be threat to humanity. This is evidenced by the report on Russian elite and expansionist plans of Russia, which was released by “Politonline” publication.

The report mentions in particular:

* The Army should be formed for certain reasons – both defensive and offensive.

Russia’s military must be able to perform a wide spectrum of tasks. To accomplish this, the priority and emphasis should be given to universality, rather than specialization.

Parts that are suitable for defense and deterrence should not carry the offensive functions and vice versa. We are turning into the Army 2.0 – Army based on two components.

Offensive army should include intelligence and sabotage units, breakthrough units, the main attacking units, “anchor” units to secure the bridgeheads, etc.

Deterrence army should consist of defensive units, mobile units to eliminate breakthroughs, intelligence and sabotage groups, etc.

Superstructure over the Army of 2.0 consists of innovative units that serve for the ideological war in the informational battlefield as well as for sabotage in the information\network space in the area of high tech.

* We have to define the zone of our interest.

The zone of Russia’s interest – is not only territories of post USSR, but also Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran and Northern China. The best marker on the map is the army.

It is not necessary to draw troops into the zone of interest. It is enough to make sure their presence close this zone. Thus, we will be able to monitor not only possible military or terrorist threats, but also economic security issues.

At the time when oil and gas remain one of the key energy resources, the protection of energy infrastructure is a second priority given to Russia army.

There can’t be double approach in dealing with energy infrastructure – Russia’s oil and gas should be protected by Russian soldiers until they delivered to customers. Oil and gas pipelines should become modern analogues of CER (Chinese Eastern Railroads) that was secured by Russia along the entire length of the road on the territory of China. Status of Petroleum and Gas army can be formally private, but in reality its management should belong to the state.

* Upcoming Global threats till 2020.

The main global threat up to now still remains uncontrolled growth in number of nuclear powers and the danger of loss of control over nuclear weapons.

Note that this threat to Russia is a real one – for the moment we have common borders with four countries that possess nuclear weapons or have the capacity to produce it: the US, China, North Korea and Iran. None of these countries can be called friendly to Russia.

Moreover, the admittance of a number of countries in Eastern Europe and former USSR republics in NATO allows deploying nuclear weapons in the immediate vicinity of the borders of Russia. In addition, according to experts of the IAEA, in the next 10 years, additional 30 countries will have access to the technology of nuclear weapons. This can be a potential threat to Russian security.

The second serious problem is a fight for traditional non-renewable sources of energy. Wars in Kuwait and Iraq for oil and gas reserves in last decades are a striking example of such conflicts.

Russia’s reserves in Siberia are highly vulnerable due to a low populated area and absence of efficient transportation and communication systems to ensure the security of resources when necessary.

Even the Chinese now with only one Parachute Regiment unit can capture any of Russia’s oil and gas fields to destroy or disrupt the mining complex. This kind of action could lead to a serious damage to Russian economy despite of existing “safety cushion” in the form of a serious difference between the cost of energy and its prices from producers.

The third problem relates to the global effort of the countries to move away from the use of traditional energy sources and to switch to biological fuels that will enable them to save their own economy from oil and gas dependency. Transition of a large percentage of agricultural acreage to area under oleifera crops (lat. Brassica napus) at the moment led to a sharp drop in agricultural production and, consequently, to an increase in food prices.

Another cause of the food crisis is also an increase in diet of people of India and China.

As a result, most Asian farmers shifted to the provision of food for domestic markets. Meanwhile, there is a gradual increase in the consumption of meat and dairy products in developed countries, which together with reducing the production of meat and milk automatically leads to higher food prices.

Thus, in the next 10-15 years we can expect a serious conflict for free lands suitable for agriculture or cattle breeding. One of the least used and the most promising regions in this regard is East China, which can be a battlefield for taking control over it as by India, China and other world powers. In the context of proliferation of nuclear weapons, this problem can become the most dangerous.

* Upcoming Regional threats till 2020.

There are four regional threats in the long run:

In the western sector there is a threat of losing Kaliningrad region, in the form of separation and declaration of independence as well as the formation of public opinion of the region as “European Russian republic”. Thus, we risk losing strategically important port on the Baltic Sea.

Moreover, at the west there is a danger of annexation of Belarus as “a fight against Lukashenko’s regime” and its division into zones of influence between Poland and Lithuania. In theory, Ukraine can participate into this division, but the only part it would receive is territory of “Chernobyl”.

In case of this scenario, the border between Russia and NATO countries would be passing close to areas of the central region and thus would put under potential danger transportation cross points of Smolensk and Moscow.

The threat in the Caucasus region is referred to upcoming Olympic Games in Sochi. The situation in the Black Sea coast could remain volatile for a long time, putting at risk the economy of the Russian South, the main agricultural region. The most obvious solution in this case is gradual establishment of control over Abkhazia and modernization of the Sukhumi port.

Entire length of border with Kazakhstan is a threat and will continue to be a threat due to drug trafficking through it. Border troops should not be used to solve this problem because they are originally designed to serve other issues. It makes sense to transfer these responsibilities to the Federal Service which will control and fight drug trafficking and provide it with appropriate power and resources in the form of special troops.

The fourth and most serious problem is upcoming annexation of East Siberia and the Far East regions close to China. Penetration of Chinese population in the territory of Russia, their assimilation with local population and merging of Chinese and Russian small and medium business can pose a threat of losing control over these regions in the future.

If problems of infrastructure would not be resolved in the next few years, there would be a high risk of separation of East Siberia and the Far East and, consequently, the loss of access to natural resources.

In addition to solving the problem through the development of infrastructure, it is necessary to build million-populated military city on the border with China. This will solve the problem of lack of large urban agglomerations between Irkutsk and Vladivostok, and the problem of content grouping deterrence on the Russian-Chinese border.

Paul Goble

Last year, some 18,000 Daghestani Muslims performed the haj, 12,000 more than the number Moscow had allocated to them within the 25,000 the Saudi authorities had authorized for the Russian Federation as a whole, and this year, it appears likely that Daghestani Muslims will again exceed the lower total of 6,000 slots Moscow has set.

(One reason that the Daghestani quota has been cut is that the Saudi authorities have reduced the Russian Federation’s quota to 20,500, the figure it had been until two years ago when the Saudis deferred to a request by then-President Vladimir Putin to boost the figure to take into account pent-up demand among Russia’s Muslims to perform the haj.)

In their efforts to go on the haj, some Daghestani Muslims have registered in other parts of the Russian Federation where fewer Muslims want or are able to make the haj, officials in Makhachkala say. But other Muslims in the most Islamic part of the country appear simply to be ignoring the quotas altogether (www.riadagestan.ru/news/2009/10/13/87172/).

On the one hand, this Daghestani flow has the potential to create problems for Russia in its relations with Saudi Arabia, whose leaders view control over access to the Holy Places to be one of their greatest responsibilities and who this year have reduced Russia’s allocation and urged Muslims younger than 12 or older than 65 not to come because of the H1N1 flu.

But on the other, and perhaps more seriously, the willingness and ability of Daghestani Muslims to ignore the quotas set by the central Russian government both reflects and promotes greater indifference to Moscow’s demands in that increasingly unsettled North Caucasus republic and may create tensions between Daghestan and other Muslim regions of the country.

Magomed Mikhalayev, who is responsible for arranging air travel for Daghestanis who wish to make the haj that way, told RIA Daghestan that regardless of what Moscow said last year or is saying this, “in fact” more Daghestani Muslims are performing the haj than official statistics have suggested.

He added that in addition to meeting all the medical requirements the Saudis have imposed on those who seek a visa, Daghestani Muslims need to prepare themselves for the difficulties that all those making the haj face: relatively little space, long lines, and difficulties arising from dealing with peoples of different backgrounds.

But Mikhalayev added, Daghestani Muslims face some particular problems because of their propensity to exceed quotas: Every year, he said, “doctors of the Daghestani delegation of the Russian haj mission” recognize that they need to service upwards of 15,000 people, but they are able to take medicines “only according to the quota” Moscow has set.

Consequently, if Muslims from Daghestan do get sick in Saudi Arabia, they are likely to find it more difficult to secure the necessary medical treatment. In the past, some Daghestanis have died during the haj, and Mikhalayev’s statement suggests that at least some in Russia hope to discourage so many Muslims from that republic from going by highlighting this problem.

In his comments to the media, Mikhalayev noted that the cost of the haj for those using direct air services will be 97,000 rubles (3200 US dollars) this year. For those flying to Jordan and then taking a bus, the cost will be 79,000 rubles (2600 US dollars), and for those travelling by bus the entire way, it will be 60-65,000 rubles (1900-2200 US dollars).

Mikhalayev did not mention it, but many Daghestanis like other Muslims from the North Caucasus are likely to make the haj this year as they have in the past by private vehicles or by public transport not specifically assigned for the haj, thus opening yet another channel for them to exceed the quotas Moscow has declared.

By DAVID NOWAK

A top Russian security official says Moscow reserves the right to conduct pre-emptive nuclear strikes to safeguard the country against aggression on both a large and a local scale, according to a newspaper interview published Wednesday.

Presidential Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev also singled out the U.S. and NATO, saying Moscow’s Cold War foes still pose potential threats to Russia despite what he called a global trend toward local conflicts.

The interview appeared in the daily Izvestia during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, as U.S. and Russian negotiators try to hammer out a nuclear arms reduction treaty by December. It also came amid grumbling in Moscow over U.S. moves to modify plans for a missile shield near Russia’s borders rather than ditch the idea outright.

Patrushev said a sweeping document on military policy including a passage on preventative nuclear force will be handed to President Dmitry Medvedev by the end of the year, according to Izvestia.

Officials are examining “a variety of possibilities for using nuclear force, depending on the situation and the intentions of the possible opponent,” Patrushev was quoted as saying. “In situations critical to national security, options including a preventative nuclear strike on the aggressor are not excluded.”

The proposed doctrine would allow for the use of nuclear weapons “to repel an aggression with the use of conventional weapons not only in a large-scale but also in a regional and even local war,” Patrushev was quoted as saying. He said a government analysis of the threat of conflict in the world showed “a shift from large-scale conflicts to local wars and armed conflicts.”

“However, earlier military dangers and threats for our country have not lost significance,” he was quoted as saying. “Activity on receiving new members into NATO is not ceasing. The military activity of the bloc is being stepped up. U.S. strategic forces are conducting intensive training on using strategic nuclear weapons.”

Russian military analysts said the hawkish former domestic intelligence chief’s remarks were mostly muscle-flexing for show, because what he revealed about the proposed new doctrine suggests it differs little from the current one.

One independent analyst, Alexander Golts, said current policy already allows for a nuclear strike to repel an aggression of any sort. Another, Pavel Felgenhauer, said that effectively allows for a pre-emptive strike because the type of aggression that would warrant such a strike is not clearly defined.

Russia’ NATO envoy, Dmitry Rogozin, argued the proposed doctrine does not contradict arms reduction efforts. “We are moving toward a reduction in nuclear arsenals,” he told Ekho Moskvy radio.

Still, Patrushev’s focus on local conflicts could rattle Georgia, the small neighbor that Russia routed in a five-day conventional war with Russia last year.

Analysts also said his description of the proposed policy shows Russia’s growing reliance on nuclear arms as its conventional arsenal decays and unpopular military reforms stall. Observers say the war with Georgia exposed frailties in Russia’s military, adding urgency to planned reforms.

In a symptomatic setback, a scheduled test launch of the new Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile — which has failed in seven of its 11 test launches so far — was postponed, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. The Bulava has been billed as the future of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Paul Goble

The Russian justice ministry has published draft amendments to that country’s law on religion that if approved would make it far harder for religious groups to gain official registration and seriously restrict missionary work by members of one faith among other groups, restrictions that have sparked outrage among religious leaders.

The proposed amendments, posted on the ministry’s official website on Monday (www.minjust.ru/common/img/uploaded/docs/2009.10.12_zakonoproekt_missionery.doc) and then detailed in “Gazeta” ( http://www.gzt.ru/topnews/society/266073.html) are so sweeping that opposition from religious groups may lead the Duma to reject them.

The justice ministry’s proposals not only impose limits on who can be part of a religious community that seeks registration with the state but also, in the words of “Gazeta,” requires that “each missionary obtain a number of permissions” including from the government before engaging in proselytizing activities of any kind.

The change in registration procedures is striking. In the past, followers of a particular faith could at least according to the law simply inform officials in local governments about their plans and in most cases receive registration. But the draft amendments impose new requirements: Those seeking registration must turn to the territorial organ of state registration.

That gives Moscow a greater voice, and local officials a lesser one, in determining which groups can register and which cannot. But in addition, the amendments say that no one who has been convicted of inciting inter-ethnic or inter-religious hostility or “other crimes of an extremist nature” can be listed among those seeking registration.

That is no small thing. Not only does it give the authorities yet another reason for rejecting registration, but it places new burdens on religious leaders. Archdeacon Andrey Kurayev of the Moscow Theological Academy, for example, says that churches frequently “do not know who has been convicted or for what.”

Moreover, the outspoken religious activist says, the church “cannot close [its] doors to certain congregants” and points out that representatives of various faiths “conduct services in jails and penal colonies,” something that the new registration rules would seem to make extraordinarily difficult to continue.

But if those provisions are likely to both many religious groups within Russia, the justice ministry’s proposals regarding missionary activity will offend both them and many religious communities abroad which have sent missionaries to Russia or have otherwise supported missionary activities there.

It has long been a complaint among Russian legal specialists that Russian legislation in no place defines missionary activity. The justice ministry seeks to fill that gap with the following definition: missionary work is “the dissemination of one’s own faith among people who are not members, participants or followers of that religious organization.”

Although leaders of Russia’s so-called “traditional” faiths have generally agreed not to “poach” on followers of the others – an agreement some of them are increasingly ignoring — the justice ministry definition goes much further than that and restricts missionary activities without the permission of the group being proselytized.

Moreover, it puts the state in the position of the guardian of that process, and it requires that missionaries coming in from abroad have written invitations from organizations inside the Russian Federation as well, something that would make it virtually impossible for such people to function as normal missionaries.

Indeed, as “Gazeta” reports, Orthodox Christian churchmen are now pointing out that “the apostles had no documents,” and Father Yevgeny Sokolov, the head of the missionary department of the Orthodox Church’s missionary office in Arkhangelsk, says the proposals are a form of “spiritual terrorism against missionaries” (www.rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=105878).

Given this vocal opposition by the Russian Orthodox Church, the justice ministry proposals may be dead on arrival. Sergey Popov, the head of the Duma committee which oversees religious affairs, told “Gazeta” that the draft amendments were “no more than” proposals.

He said that two weeks from now, his committee is organizing a roundtable to discuss them, and he pointedly said that while legislation is needed in this area, it should be prepared by legislators rather than simply worked up by the bureaucracy. Obviously, some regulation of missionary work is needed, Popov added, but all the other things are open for discussion.

12.10.09 12:13

Russian occupiers and pro-Kremlin Abkhaz Militia’ss have assaulted and robbed a family of ethnic Georgians in Gali district`s village of Saberio. The incident occurred late last night. Over five masked gunman took away nut by the vehicle of the family. The robbers bound the members of the family and disappeared. Afterwards, the locals found the vehicle of Valeri Kobalia abandoned five kilometres away from the Saberio village.
The robbers have tortured a four year-old child and kidnapped Merab Kobalia. The villains are demanding $80,000 ransom from the family. They say a so-called crime boss informed them about the ransom, which they can never afford.
The eyewitnesses say the robbers were the soldiers serving on the Russian checkpoint in the village Saberio.
Russian occupants have committed another violent act yesterday. Reportedly, they beat up a resident of the village Otobaia, Zurab Alpenidze after a dispute with him.