Power officers dismissed in Karelia for Kondopoga

President of Russia Vladimir Putin by his order relieved Major General Alexei Dorofeev from the position of the Head of the FSB (Federal Security Bureau) Administration of the Russian Federation for Karelia, reported on Thursday the press service of the head of the state. By his other decree, Putin released Militia Major General Dmitri Mikhailov from the office of Minister of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Karelia.

General Prosecutor Yuri Chaika, in his turn, signed an order to dismiss Vladimir Panassenko, Class II State Justice Advisor, from the position of General Prosecutor of the Republic of Karelia, sources at the RF General Prosecutor's Office reported on Thursday. The message notes that as of October 6, Panassenko was pensioned off from prosecution bodies for his time-in-service.

So far, nothing has been told on the reasons of dismissals in Karelia of high-ranked power officers, however, Russian political experts are linking them with the events in the Karelian town of Kondopoga at the end of August - start of September this year.

"The dismissal reason of the heads of the Karelia Interior Ministry and FSB Administration is the investigation in Kondopoga, which revealed facts of serious corruption within these entities in the Republic," Sergey Markov, member of the Public Chamber and Director of the Political Studies Institute, told on Thursday to "Interfax."

Vyacheslav Nikonov, another member of the Public Chamber and President of the "Politika" Foundation, also thinks that resignation of law enforcement heads in Karelia is related to Kondopoga events. "The reason lies in what happened in Kondopoga, and I see no other versions here," Nikonov said. According to his words, in connection with the August 30 events, the federal authorities have plenty of claims to the law enforcement bodies of the Republic. "First of all, there is data that during the incident in the "Chaika" restaurant, militia was sheltering the local criminal groupings, since the militia patrol car was close to the events venue but would not interfere, and after a while the whole militia had just disappeared away from the town," Nikonov said. In this connection, the political expert thinks, the federal powers made their "cadre conclusions," and the president made a decision to remove those in top powers of the Republic.

Kamilzhan Kalandarov, another member of the Public Chamber and Director General of the Human Rights Institute, thinks that the decision to remove the "power guys" of Karelia "will improve the inter-nations concord and peace in Russia." "The spirits in national minorities' members after Kondopoga events were depressed, and everybody knew that the Karelian leadership was not telling the whole truth," Kalandarov told the "Interfax." "But now," he added, "everything is OK. The president has really protected the rights of national minorities," the NEWSru.com reports.

We remind you that the spark of disorders was a mass fight of local citizens with Caucasian natives, in the course of which Gregory Slizov, 27, and Sergey Usin, 32, a security of the central district hospital, were killed.

On September 2 at night, after a spontaneous rally, where townspeople demanded to punish the Caucasian suspects of murdering the Kondopoga dwellers, mass disorders burst out. According to the witnesses, about a hundred young people, warmed-up with alcohol beverages, moved on along the town streets blocking the traffic and throwing stones into passing cars. Militia did not undertake to intervene, probably, not to provoke more serious disorders. Several hundreds of those at the rally made their way to the "Chaika" restaurant.

Militia tried not to let them ruin the restaurant, but retreated a bit later, and the mob first attacked the building with stones and then, getting inside, set the back regions on fire. After the militia members hustled the attackers away and firemen suppressed the fire, certain group of protesters started to crush commercial shops belonging to traders from one of the Caucasian republics.

On Saturday, at 10 p.m. Moscow time, the crowd gathered to the restaurant again and set it on fire. Then, special units (OMON) delivered to Kondopoga from Petrozavodsk, Karelia capital, moved in. The soldiers split the mob into several smaller groups and then dispersed them over the town.

According to the militia, practically all the members of national minorities, including the Chechen Diaspora, left Kondopoga. The authorities immediately evacuated 60 persons to Petrozavodsk. Several tens of Caucasians moved to Beryozobka, Kondopoga suburb, where they stay hidden by their relatives.