Is Journalism Worth Dying For__ Final Dispatches - Anna Politkovskaya [80]
Unrest was first evident in the so-called “Oil Regiment,” the Interdepartmental Security Service. The oil security guards refused to pay their tribute to the so-called Kadyrov Fund, and warned Kadyrov not to try to get them to attack their own people. They told him they would not shoot, and would take no further part in settling his gangland scores. They would hand in their weapons and leave. Next, the officers of the Ministry for Emergency Situations revolted and also refused to pay tribute – 3–4,000 roubles deducted from their salaries – submitting official complaints to the Prosecutor’s Office about those gathering the levies. The detachment commanded by Movladi Baisarov joined the rebellion and, although there are not that many of them left, they continue to be influential. The West Battalion, now formally subordinate to the Central Intelligence Directorate, were drawn in immediately after them.
It finally came to open war. Muslim Iliasov, commander of one of the battalions transferred to the Russian Interior Ministry troops and himself a former resistance fighter who had surrendered to Kadyrov Senior, was a close friend of Ramzan. He nevertheless ambushed him. Other detachments were drawn in: the West, East, OMON, North, and South Battalions. These split internally, with some siding with Ramzan and others opposing him. The balance of forces was not in Ramzan’s favor, and Iliasov, who had instigated the rebellion, declared Ramzan his enemy. He explained why: for the humiliations, insults and derision, for the slavery. Ramzan raged but retreated because of lack of support.
“This will not last long,” said one of the commanders who took part in the events. “I would give it two months before it’s all over.” Another of his colleagues who will also be unable to avoid taking part in the showdown said “three months.” Everyone with detachments subordinate to them in the pro-Moscow Chechen security agencies agrees that Ramzan’s removal from the scene is only a matter of time. “Although,” they add, “anything might happen.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If Moscow decides to keep him, they will keep him.”
“But who is Moscow, in your opinion?”
“Putin personally. Ramzan has been requesting an urgent meeting through Surkov.”
A meeting did indeed take place in the Kremlin on August, but Ramzan got relatively little out of it: his face on television, but no money.
Let us return to what happened after the revolt. What happened was August 3, the Day of the Oath, of swearing allegiance to Ramzan Kadyrov on the Quran. Poor Quran.
“We were all summoned to Khosi-Yurt (another name for Tsentoroy) to a sacrifice,” one of the participants relates. “It was some anniversary of Akhmat-hadji Kadyrov (fifty-five years since his birth). They took us to the gym and said we were to swear allegiance to Ramzan on the Quran. All the battalion commanders were there. The Mullah read and everybody was supposed to repeat it. The cameras were on. For several days after that they were showing our lips moving on television. I personally swore loyalty to my father.” Another commander laughs: “I swore to be faithful to my wife.”
For the participants this oath was by no means the first. My interviewees smile; “We saw people there who have sworn allegiance on the Quran to different leaders five times before, and broken the vow. They will break this one at the first opportunity.”
That is no more than the truth. The enforced oath only irritated more of those who are now opposed to Ramzan.
“This oath-taking was a panicky affair,” one of the commanders says with conviction. He, incidentally, did not go to Tsentoroy on August 3. “Ramzan was trying to show Moscow that he has everything under control, that he is in charge, but what he showed Chechnya was that he is in a blue funk.”
“How many people do you think Ramzan will have when it comes to the showdown?”
“Between