Russia Mulls Ending Chechnya Anti-terror Operation

Easy Bourse ^ | March 26th, 2009 | AFP

[SolidWood]

MOSCOW (AFP)--Russia is considering ending the decade-long effective state of war in Chechnya, an official said Thursday, in a move that could see the withdrawal of thousands of troops from the once restive republic. The decree on the start of a "counter-terrorist operation" was passed in Chechnya under late president Boris Yeltsin in 1999 just months before he resigned and installed Vladimir Putin at the helm. "Such an issue is being worked out but it's too early to talk about the time frame," a Kremlin official told AFP. The official's remarks came in response to a surprise announcement by Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's Moscow-backed strongman leader, who said Wednesday that authorities would pass a decree lifting all restrictions on Chechnya. "I think at the end of March, on the 30-31, an official document about its completion will be signed," Kadyrov said.

[ETL]

Good. Now they can focus on fighting the terrorism coming from their own government.

Yushchenko: Russia blocking poisoning probe
By Bonnie Malkin and agencies, September 12, 2007

Mr Yushchenko before and after the poisoning

"Mr Yushchenko, a pro-European politician who wanted to bring his country out of Russia's shadow, fell seriously ill on September 6, 2004 as he was competing in presidential elections against a pro-Moscow candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, now prime minister.

After months of tests in an Austrian clinic, it was determined that he had ingested a massive amount of the poison dioxin.

Although he survived, his face was left bloated and pockmarked, and he has had to undergo regular treatment to rid his body of the toxin.

In an interview with Le Figaro he said he believed the dioxin used to disfigure him was made in a Russian lab.

Mr Yushchenko did not directly accuse the Russian government of being behind his poisoning, but he did say he had 'practically put all the pieces together' and the attempt against him 'was not a private action'. ..."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1562838/Yushchenko-Russia-blocking-poisoning-probe.html
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"Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko (born February 23, 1954) is the third and current President of Ukraine". He took office on January 23, 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yushchenko

[ETL]

'PUTIN'S RUSSIA' by Anna Politkovskaya:

'Putin's Russia' was written by the murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya. She demonstrates - with devastating and detailed examples - the way Putin has presided over the corruption of society in the pursuit and retention of power, bringing the cynical methods of his years in the KGB/FSB to his suppression of freedoms and control of the state.

It is a deeply disturbing indictment, revealing a Russia that is returning to the suppression and brutalities that were endemic before the coming of perestroika. Vladimir Putin, a product of Russia's murkiest intelligence service, is still busy sorting out individuals and media when his autocracy is challenged, and crushing liberty just as he did earlier in his career.

The West has been craven in turning a blind eye to Putin's mockery of democracy and freedom. It has looked on and pretended not to see the atrocities in Chechnya. And Anna Politkovskaya has herself become the latest in a sad procession of journalists who have been silenced because they dared to speak out about the truth.

http://www.annapolitkovskaya.com/
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Symposium: To Kill a Russian Journalist
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 17, 2006

The murder of internationally renowned Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in early October 2006 was yet another troubling sign of Russia’s retreat into its totalitarian past. Today Frontpage Symposium has gathered a distinguished panel of experts to discuss why Anna Politkovskaya was killed and what the tragic loss of her life symbolizes about the direction in which Vladimir Putin’s Russia is heading.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=BDBFAEF5-5295-400F-807B-83D20FFA285C