La Russophobe has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://larussophobe.wordpress.com
and update your bookmarks.

Take action now to save Darfur

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Chechens Flee the Horror of Putin's Russia in Droves

Other Russia reports:

Human rights activists are documenting a rapid jump in the number of Russian nationals fleeing the country and requesting political asylum, Interfax reported on January 15th. According to Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the civil assistance committee under the Russian president, “We can see a new wave of applications of [Russian nationals] to Western countries asking them for a [political] asylum.” At a news conference, Gannushkina revealed that in the last three months alone, a total of 1,200 Russian nationals had requested asylum in the airports of Paris, France. Six hundred of those were from Chechnya. “People buy transit airline tickets via Paris and ask for a political asylum there without going to the countries they were bound for as per their tickets, mainly Morocco,” she said.

On January 15th, the Memorial human rights group released a report on conditions in the Chechen Republic, which concluded that the region was now under a totalitarian regime led by President Ramzan Kadyrov. Under Kadyrov’s regime, women aren’t allowed in public without headscarves (under a government “battle for morals”), and 80 percent of television coverage focuses on the president. Oleg Orlov, a Memorial activist, commented that after many years of bloody conflict, the region was now in relative peace, with a lower number of kidnappings and crime. He attributed this result to the continuing work of Russian and international human rights activists.

Meanwhile, in Gannushkina’s words, refugee camps have been forcing inhabitants out into the streets. Chechen residents living in nearby republics are being personally pressured into returning to Chechnya by Kadyrov: “For instance, people aren’t hired for work, and are forced to regularly register their fingerprints. Their social rights are being violated,” she said. According to the activist, the French Interior Ministry has an order which states that Chechens should not be extradited from France.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Oleg Orlov, a Memorial activist, commented that after many years of bloody conflict, the region was now in relative peace, with a lower number of kidnappings and crime. He attributed this result to the continuing work of Russian and international human rights activists."

We have plowed! Surely it was not the continuing work of Chechen and Federal Russian law enforcement agencies? :)

Artfldgr said...

for the same reason that socialism doesnt work, the people also know what the leaders dont tell them.

that when its time to get out of town, its time to get.

there will also be a group of operatives in the mass pile as well.


though its clear, they know the game, they know what can happen, and they dont want to be a part of it.

unlike the west, they are not willing to sit there and see what happens to their lives.

Anonymous said...

if it's chechens that are leaving, no huge loss.
lr, for your supposed hatred of russian barbarism i'm truly shocked you don't have more words for those swine, oh i'm sorry 'people' from grozny