More than 4000 people excluded from the list of refugees in Chechnya

Six temporary shelters on the territory of the Chechen Republic have been vacated as a result of TS checks.

This was announced yesterday by Asu Dudurkaev, head of the republic's directorate of the federal migration service, in the course of a meeting in the town of Gudermes. According to Dudurkaev, 123 million roubles has been saved as a result of excluding the families which unlawfully received allowances."

A large-scale check of temporary shelters started in April this year upon the instruction of Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the government, who had called the TSs for forced migrants "seats of criminality, drug abuse and prostitution." A special commission was formed at the time, composed of representatives of district administrations, law enforcement officers and the deputies of the republic's parliament. Its aim was to study the situation in the field.

The special commission activity resulted in changing virtually all wardens in the temporary shelters for forced migrants on the territory of Chechnya and excluding 4,300 people who, in the opinion of the commission, unlawfully resided in the refugee camps while having their own dwelling. Additionally, the commission revealed a large number of persons who had managed to simultaneously receive humanitarian assistance both in Chechnya and in Ingushetia.

In the course of the meeting in Gudermes, Dudurkaev also stressed that not a single person deprived of the allowance had complained about illegitimate actions of the republic's migration service. Additionally, he stated that, in general, "it is planned to reduce the number of temporary shelters on the territory of the Chechen Republic by half."

Meanwhile, some residents of the temporary shelters claim that exclusion of people has been carried out unlawfully. "Checks in the TSs for forced migrants have been carried out with gross violations. The commission visited the temporary shelter and listed all residents. Those who, at the time of the check, were not in, were crossed out from the list immediately. Nobody cared that some people might have been busy or had problems," claims Maka, a 45-year-old resident of one of the TSs in Grozny.

There are 32 temporary shelters for forced migrants on the territory of the Chechen Republic. The absolute majority of TSs, i.e. 22, are located in the city of Grozny. Additionally, there are TSs in Gudermes, Argun and a number of other major settlements. According to the republic's authorities, more than 33,000 people reside in the temporary shelters and other places of compact residence of forced migrants.