by Timur Utsayev, Grozny. Exclusively for VK
Chechnya has marked the third anniversary of the lifting of the counter-terrorism operation regime (CTO) imposed in 1999 after the presidential order to form combined forces in the North Caucasus. The day is marked as the Day of Peace and is a public holiday.
Officers were allowed to detain people, enter any home, organize searches, take people’s cars for personal needs. After the counter-terrorism operation started there was another infamous order passed. Order N1223 was to prevent armed formations and weapons from entering Chechnya. All freighting to Chechnya was stopped for individuals and legal bodies registered in the republic. So if a man had a Chechen stamp in his passport he would have no right to receive shipments from abroad.
People still remember hundreds of roadblocks checking cars, documents and registry. People were often gone missing in such places. Human rights activists called it discrimination. Such measures are only allowed by the Constitution in a state of war or emergency. Chechnya had neither of that, but the population had its constitutional rights disrespected. Lawyer Sultan Salmanov told VK about complaints the ombudsman received: “A Russian woman asked us for help in 2008. She came from Kazakhstan to Russia with her husband, to her permanent residence at the Shelkovsky District of Chechnya. But their container was stopped at the Mineralovodcheskaya Customs Office. When officer found registry of the owners, their goods in the containers were not allowed to pass the office. Another case is about a son who bought a car for his father in Germany. His father arrived in Moscow to receive the car, he registered all the documents, but he was told that he cannot receive the car, because he was registered in Chechnya. The man had to abandon his Chechen registry and register himself in Dagestan to receive the cargo”.
The CTO was in force when all state structures were operating, when there were official statements that Chechnya had the lowest crime rate and terrorist attacks were only happening in other regions of the North Caucasus. Chechnya started rapid development after the CTO was lifted. Investments started arriving, Chechnya formed a customs service, Grozny Airport became international. Grozny considers the lift of the CTO “an essential part of improving its investment Attractivity, opening new workplaces, developing small and medium-scale business, increasing tax income, reviving foreign economic activity”. People say that Chechnya may soon receive the same financing sums as all other Russian regions.
