Politics
Russian government displays little innovation in improving security situation
Reading Time: 4 minutes Umarov’s statement directly contradicts the claim made by Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, on January 26 about the airport attack being “not linked to Chechnya”
On February 7, the leader of the North Caucasian insurgency, Doku Umarov, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing attack at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on January 24, which killed 36 people and wounded over 100. In an unusually politicized and polemic video address posted on the Kavkaz Center website, Umarov stated the insurgency was committed to “freeing the North Caucasus from Russian rule.” The insurgent leader justified the campaign of violence with claims that all previous fights for political freedom were necessarily violent and that Muslims have been attacked and killed in the North Caucasus and across the world. Umarov argued that the insurgents were only staging occasional attacks rather than regular ones in order to avoid more casualties and to allow the Russian people to change their attitude toward the North Caucasus. The video address itself appeared to have been recorded on January 24, the day of the Domodedovo attack (www.kavkazcenter.com, February 7).
Umarov’s statement directly contradicts the claim made by Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, on January 26 about the airport attack being “not linked to Chechnya” (RIA Novosti, January 26). Putin also claimed that the North Caucasus insurgents have no clear demands and cannot put into words what they want, equating them with “anarchical terrorists” (www.1tv.ru, February 3). This remark by Putin is important, as it may reflect the growing pressure on the Russian government to do something decisive about the North Caucasus, including negotiations or even a complete withdrawal from the region. So the Russian prime minister is trying to pretend there is nothing to negotiate about and no conflicting side to negotiate with.
The North Caucasus insurgent leader took responsibility for the attack in Moscow two weeks following the event. Normally, it takes the insurgents only several days to take responsibility for an attack. It is worth noting also that Umarov’s appearance on the video was his first in several months, thus refuting claims made by Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration that he may have died.
Earlier, on February 4, the Kavkaz Center website published another video address by Umarov, which showed him with two other people, including a young man named Seifullah who was being sent to Russia for an unspecified “special operation.” Umarov promised “weekly, monthly attacks” on Russia, “depending on [its] reaction” and available resources (www.kavkazcenter.com, February 4). While Umarov speaks in the February 4 video about 50-60 potential suicide bombers ready to attack Russia, in his February 7 video he increases that number to the “hundreds.” Some observers also found a resemblance between the young man in the video and the photograph of a 20-year-old Ingush, Magomed Yevloev, who is thought to have been the suicide bomber at the Moscow airport (www.lifenews.ru, February 3).
On February 8, Russian officials came up with more details about the Domodedovo bombing, concluding that the illegal armed group behind the attack was in fact “absolutely autonomous.” In a rather sensationalist manner, the security services also stated that the group drove two cars in Moscow with Danish diplomatic tags. The Danish Embassy in Moscow rushed to contact the police, but the police reassured them that the suspicious cars simply had phony Danish diplomatic tags. Three people, including Magomed Yevloev’s brother Islam, have been arrested as possible accomplices in the airport suicide bombing. All three come from the village of Ali-Yurt in Ingushetia, where the suspected suicide bomber resided. The number of actual arrests may be far higher, as the whereabouts of Yevloev’s family are unknown (www.gazeta.ru, February 8).
Meanwhile, police in Ingushetia said they did not find any evidence confirming Magomed Yevloev was the suicide attacker during a search at the Yevloev family’s house in Ali-Yurt. According to Ingushetia’s police, besides Yevloev’s remains, parts of other bodies were found at the site of the airport attack that might belong to the real suicide bomber (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru, February 7).
At a government meeting on February 3, President Dmitry Medvedev publicly criticized the security services for “indulging in PR” instead of delivering results in the investigation. Medvedev said that law enforcement officials should not declare cases solved before charges are formally brought against suspects. The president’s criticism came several days after the January 29 announcement by the Russian Investigative Committee that the Domodedovo bombing case had been “solved.” The statement was later revised to refer instead to “serious advances in the investigation.” On February 2, the day before Medvedev’s criticism, Putin also declared the Domodedovo attack solved (www.gazeta.ru, February 3).
The aftermath of the Domodedovo airport bombing has resulted in the proliferation of theories about who staged the attack and how. The Nogai Jamaat, Pakistani insurgents, a Russian Muslim convert, Russian nationalists and Middle Easterners all were suspects at one stage or another. Numerous details were fed to the media and subsequently withdrawn. It appears the Russian security services have a very well entrenched system of misinforming the public that works far better than the actual investigative bodies of the same services.
On February 8, the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the dismissal of two FSB colonels in connection with the airport attack. Earlier several other obscure figures were dismissed by the Russian interior ministry. At a special meeting of the Russian State’s Duma that same day, the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Vladimir Bastrykin, proposed taking the fingerprints of all Russian citizens in order to fight terrorism better. Russian Interior Minister, Rashid Nurgaliev, came up with an idea of organizing citizen militias to contain the insurgency. State Duma Speaker, Boris Gryzlov, suggested increasing the punishment for people who raise false alarms about a terrorist threat. The government is working on overhauling the security systems for transport in Russia, but it is not yet known exactly what this will entail (www.gazeta.ru, February 8).
A new football club has earned a leading place in the UEFA Champions League groups and starred in the headlines of worldwide football news yesterday. The Football Club Sheriff Tiraspol claimed a win with the score 2-1 against Real Madrid on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. That made Sheriff Tiraspol the leader in Group D of the Champions League, including the football club in the groups of the most important European interclub competition for the first time ever.
International media outlets called it a miracle, a shock and a historic event, while strongly emphasizing the origin of the team and the existing political conflict between the two banks of the Dniester. “Football club from a pro-Russian separatist enclave in Moldova pulls off one of the greatest upsets in Champions League history,” claimed the news portals. “Sheriff crushed Real!” they said.
Moldovans made a big fuss out of it on social media, splitting into two groups: those who praised the team and the Republic of Moldova for making history and those who declared that the football club and their merits belong to Transnistria – a problematic breakaway region that claims to be a separate country.
Both groups are right and not right at the same time, as there is a bunch of ethical, political, social and practical matters that need to be considered.
Is it Moldova?
First of all, every Moldovan either from the right or left bank of Dniester (Transnistria) is free to identify himself with this achievement or not to do so, said Vitalie Spranceana, a sociologist, blogger, journalist and urban activist. According to him, boycotting the football club for being a separatist team is wrong.
At the same time, “it’s an illusion to think that territory matters when it comes to football clubs,” Spranceana claimed. “Big teams, the ones included in the Champions League, have long lost their connection both with the countries in which they operate, and with the cities in which they appeared and to which they linked their history. […] In the age of globalized commercial football, teams, including the so-called local ones, are nothing more than global traveling commercial circuses, incidentally linked to cities, but more closely linked to all sorts of dirty, semi-dirty and cleaner cash flows.”
What is more important in this case is the consistency, not so much of citizens, as of politicians from the government who have “no right to celebrate the success of separatism,” as they represent “the national interests, not the personal or collective pleasures of certain segments of the population,” believes the political expert Dionis Cenusa. The victory of FC Sheriff encourages Transnistrian separatism, which receives validation now, he also stated.
“I don’t know how it happens that the “proud Moldovans who chose democracy”, in their enthusiasm for Sheriff Tiraspol’s victory over Real Madrid, forget the need for total and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria!” declared the journalist Vitalie Ciobanu.
Nowadays, FC Sheriff Tiraspol has no other choice than to represent Moldova internationally. For many years, the team used the Moldovan Football Federation in order to be able to participate in championships, including international ones. That is because the region remains unrecognised by the international community. However, the club’s victory is presented as that of Transnistria within the region, without any reference to the Republic of Moldova, its separatist character being applied in this case especially.
Is it a victory?
In fact, FC Sheriff Tiraspol joining the Champions League is a huge image breakthrough for the Transnistrian region, as the journalist Madalin Necsutu claimed. It is the success of the Tiraspol Club oligarchic patrons. From the practical point of view, FC Sheriff Tiraspol is a sports entity that serves its own interests and the interests of its owners, being dependent on the money invested by Tiraspol (but not only) oligarchs.
Here comes the real dilemma: the Transnistrian team, which is generously funded by money received from corruption schemes and money laundering, is waging an unequal fight with the rest of the Moldovan football clubs, the journalist also declared. The Tiraspol team is about to raise 15.6 million euro for reaching the Champions League groups and the amounts increase depending on their future performance. According to Necsutu, these money will go directly on the account of the club, not to the Moldovan Football Federation, creating an even bigger gab between FC Sheriff and other football clubs from Moldova who have much more modest financial possibilities.
“I do not see anything useful for Moldovan football, not a single Moldovan player is part of FC Sheriff Tiraspol. I do not see anything beneficial for the Moldovan Football Federation or any national team.”
Is it only about football?
FC Sheriff Tiraspol, with a total estimated value of 12.8 million euros, is controlled by Victor Gusan and Ilya Kazmala, being part of Sheriff Holding – a company that controls the trade of wholesale, retail food, fuels and medicine by having monopolies on these markets in Transnistria. The holding carries out car trading activities, but also operates in the field of construction and real estate. Gusan’s people also hold all of the main leadership offices in the breakaway region, from Parliament to the Prime Minister’s seat or the Presidency.
The football club is supported by a holding alleged of smuggling, corruption, money laundering and organised crime. Moldovan media outlets published investigations about the signals regarding the Sheriff’s holding involvement in the vote mobilization and remuneration of citizens on the left bank of the Dniester who participated in the snap parliamentary elections this summer and who were eager to vote for the pro-Russian socialist-communist bloc.
Considering the above, there is a great probability that the Republic of Moldova will still be represented by a football club that is not identified as being Moldovan, being funded from obscure money, growing in power and promoting the Transnistrian conflict in the future as well.
Photo: unknown
Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, together with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicu Popescu, pay an official visit to Brussels, between September 27-28, being invited by High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles.
Today, Prime Minister had a meeting with Charles Michel, President of the European Council. The Moldovan PM thanked the senior European official for the support of the institution in strengthening democratic processes, reforming the judiciary and state institutions, economic recovery and job creation, as well as increasing citizens’ welfare. Natalia Gavrilita expressed her confidence that the current visit laid the foundations for boosting relations between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union, so that, in the next period, it would be possible to advance high-level dialogues on security, justice and energy. Officials also exchanged views on priorities for the Eastern Partnership Summit, to be held in December.
“The EU is open to continue to support the Republic of Moldova and the ambitious reform agenda it proposes. Moldova is an important and priority partner for us,” said Charles Michel.
Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita also met with Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for Economy, expressing her gratitude for the support received through the OMNIBUS macro-financial assistance program. The two officials discussed the need to advance the recovery of money from bank fraud, to strengthen sustainable mechanisms for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova, and to standardize the customs and taxes as one of the main conditions for deepening cooperation with the EU in this field.
Additionally, Prime Minister spoke about the importance of the Eastern Partnership and the Deep Free Trade Agreement, noting that the Government’s policies are aimed at developing an economic model aligned with the European economic model, focused on digitalization, energy efficiency and the green economy.
A common press release of the Moldovan Prime Minister with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelles, took place today, where the agenda of Moldova’s reforms and the main priorities to focus on in the coming months were presented: judiciary reform; fighting COVID-19 pandemic; promoting economic recovery and conditions for growth and job creation; strengthening state institutions and resilience of the country.
“I am here to relaunch the dialogue between my country and the European Union. Our partnership is strong, but I believe there is room for even deeper cooperation and stronger political, economic and sectoral ties. I am convinced that this partnership is the key to the prosperity of our country and I hope that we will continue to strengthen cooperation.”
The Moldovan delegation met Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice. Tomorrow, there are scheduled common meetings with Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport and Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy.
Prime Minister will also attend a public event, along with Katarina Mathernova, Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.
Photo: gov.md
Politics
Promo-LEX about Maia Sandu’s UN speech: The president must insist on appointing a rapporteur to monitor the situation of human rights in Transnistria
The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, pays an official visit to New York, USA, between September 21-22. There, she participates in the work of the United Nations General Assembly. According to a press release of the President’s Office, the official will deliver a speech at the tribune of the United Nations.
In this context, the Promo-LEX Association suggested the president to request the appointment of a special rapporteur in order to monitor the situation of human rights in the Transnistrian region. According to Promo-LEX, the responsibility for human rights violations in the Transnistrian region arises as a result of the Russian Federation’s military, economic and political control over the Tiraspol regime.
“We consider it imperative to insist on the observance of the international commitments assumed by the Russian Federation regarding the withdrawal of the armed forces and ammunition from the territory of the country,” the representatives of Promo-LEX stated. They consider the speech before the UN an opportunity “to demand the observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the Russian Federation with reference to this territory which is in its full control.”
“It is important to remember about the numerous cases of murder, torture, ill-treatment, forced enlistment in illegal military structures, the application of pseudo-justice in the Transnistrian region, all carried out under the tacit agreement of the Russian Federation. These findings stem from dozens of rulings and decisions issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that Russia is responsible for human rights violations in the region.”
The association representatives expressed their hope that the president of the country would give priority to issues related to the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region and would call on relevant international actors to contribute to guaranteeing fundamental human rights and freedoms throughout Moldova.
They asked Maia Sandu to insist on the observance of the obligation to evacuate the ammunition and the military units of the Russian Federation from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, to publicly support the need for the Russian Federation to implement the ECtHR rulings on human rights violations in the Transnistrian region, and to request the appointment of an UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.
**
The Promo-LEX Association concluded that 14 out of 25 actions planned within the National Action Plan for the years 2018–2022 concerning respecting human rights in Transnistria were not carried out by the responsible authorities.
The association expressed its concern and mentioned that there are a large number of delays in the planned results. “There is a lack of communication and coordination between the designated institutions, which do not yet have a common vision of interaction for the implementation of the plan.”
Promo-LEX requested the Government of the Republic of Moldova to re-assess the reported activities and to take urgent measures, “which would exclude superficial implementation of future activities and increase the level of accountability of the authorities.”
Photo: peacekeeping.un.org
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