18:50, 4 August 2004

Security agencies practice abductions, Chechen Deputy PM asserts

Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Government Ramzan Kadyrov stated on August 3 that abductions of people in Chechnya are committed by officers of security agencies.

In the evening of August 3, Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov made a number of statements in his interview with a local TV station. According to him, officers of security agencies practice extortion of money and kidnapping.

"People say officers of the security service and of the Russian Defense Ministry's special operations battalions Zapad (under the command of Major Said-Magomed Kakiyev) and Vostok (under the command of Sulim Yamadayev) take away compensations and abduct people. These are our structures. It must be stopped. The battalions Zapad, Vostok and others are to be withdrawn from the town. They all are interested in appropriating as much money as possible, but we will not let them do it. They all are to be expelled. We will work otherwise now," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot