Dagestani authorities embark on force problem-solving, experts say

The authorities of Dagestan have negated the dialogue between religious movements and focused on the methods of solving the problems by force, the participants of the roundtable on the topic: "Contours of New Policy in Dagestan Early Successes and Dangerous Trends", held on July 16 inMoscow, have concluded.

Six months have elapsed since Ramazan Abdulatipov was appointed to the post of the acting head of Dagestan, Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, a member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and the head of the International Crisis Group in Russia. She said that during this time the republic saw many positive changes.

On the other hand, she noted, the republic has also seen a shift to solving the problems with the armed underground by force methods; the authorities "took the course towards the Chechen variant," she said.

"Dagestan has liquidated the militants' adaptation commission, with the help of which 46 persons had surrendered to the authorities. Instead, they've set up another one – the republic's peacemaking commission. It's still unclear who the members thereof are and what they are doing," Ms Sokiryanskaya has emphasized.

Varvara Parkhomenko, an employee of the representative office of the International Crisis Group in Russia, drew the attention of the audience to the situation in the village of Gimry. According to her story, the Gimry villagers, who are still under the counterterrorist operation (CTO), have not recovered yet after the cleansings conducted by power agents.