20:15, 6 September 2004

Chechen field commanders' relatives persecuted

Relatives of Kusama Maskhadova, the Ichkerian president's wife, were detained by servicemen in masks in the Nadterechny district of Chechnya on September 3. Her aged father was among the detained people. At the same time reports appeared that close relatives of field commanders Shamil Basayev and Dokku Umarov were arbitrary arrested. According to information spread by the Regional Operations Headquarters on September 4, Maskhadov, Basayev and other field commanders planned to commit terror attacks against their close relatives and then put the blame on Russian servicemen. But these attacks were prevented due to the "special operations services' actions".

"Only people absolutely unfamiliar to the Chechen mentality, traditions and customs can tell such things. Either Maskhadov, Basayev, and Umarov or anybody else would never attempt the life of their relatives. It's sheer nonsense," a resident of Grozny said to the Caucasian Knot correspondent. People in the republic are convinced the separatists' relatives made the statements under pressure on the part of officers of security agencies.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot