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The members of these detachments are involved in exactly the same abductions, murders and torture, and long ago caught up with the death squads of regular officers of the Russian intelligence agencies in terms of brutality, but at least their actions are selective. Civilians who are not personally resisting either them or the federal authorities (who come a distant second) are usually left unmolested.

Who is in these detachments? The press, encouraged by the Government, represent them as former resistance fighters who, “having recognised the futility of continued resistance,” have joined the Russian side. This is far from the truth.

One of the mainstays of Russian policy in the region is the blood feud. This custom continues to be observed in Chechen society and, until recently, even had a stabilising function. To commit murder was not something a criminal would undertake lightly, because a murderer who failed to obtain forgiveness was doomed. His only option was to flee. In periods when the Chechen state has been weak, such individuals often joined armed groups and put the heat on their pursuers from a position of strength. Some of the most troublesome armed groups when Maskhadov was in power also consisted of people bearing blood guilt.

It was, however, the Russian political leaders who saw an opportunity of basing their policy on them. A considerable number of today’s so-called security agencies in Chechnya include, and are under the command of, people guilty of premeditated murders and kidnappings. Immediately after the occupation of the Republic, for example, Movladi Baisarov’s group went into service with the Russian Army. Its leader was a member of a gang led by the recidivist criminal, Ruslan Labazanov, who was defeated by the Chechen security forces in summer 1994. Between the two wars he and his lieutenants specialised in kidnapping and ransom.

One of the first to transfer allegiance to the federal authorities was Suleyman Yamadayev. According to data from the Prosecutor’s Office, his group also engaged in kidnapping but was subsequently legalised as a special company attached to the military commander of Gudermes District. The Vostok (East) Battalion has now been created on this basis as part of the 42nd Motorised Rifle Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Said-Mahomed Kakiev’s detachment has been incorporated in the same division, as the Zapad (West) Battalion. Kakiev too was a member of Ruslan Labazanov’s gang and was accused of committing a number of criminal and terrorist acts.

The civilian population’s most serious complaints are about the activity of the Kadyrovites. The detachments nominally identified in this way grew out of Akhmat Kadyrov’s Security Service and to this day are commanded by his former bodyguards. These individuals now also occupy all the key posts in Chechnya. Ruslan Alkhanov, for example, is the Interior Minister, and Adam Demilkhanov is the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the security agencies.

Originally, several dozen people were members of this service, and in the main they were close relatives or fellow villagers of the Republic’s former Mufti (Kadyrov Senior). As they grew in number, members of criminal gangs emerged from the underground and were added. These were initially “anti-terrorist centers,” and more recently mutated into the North and South Battalions, the Second Regiment of the Militia’s Patrol and Checkpoint Service, and the like. They have been co-opted and now rank among the security agencies of the Russian Federation. Both then and now, people who have committed murders and kidnappings are the backbone of the Kadyrovite groupings. These are the people appointed as commanders, and responsible for recruiting new members.

The history of Lema Salmanov is typical. Born in the village of Mairtup, in November 2002 he shot two fellow villagers in his own courtyard who had come by prior arrangement to collect money for a truck he had bought from them. The relatives of the murdered