Russia/Chechnya

Moscow ends ten-year war in Chechnya

Article published on the 2009-04-16 Latest update 2009-04-16 13:55 TU

A demonstration against the Chechen war in Moscow in 2004
(Photo: AFP)

Russia has ended its ten-year "anti-terror operation" in the North Caucasus territory of Chechnya, declaring that it has won the war against separatist rebels in the majority-Muslim area.

"If the anti-terror operation is over, that means we have defeated the bandits," local pro-Moscow leader Razman Kadyrov declared at a celebratory press conference. "We can calmly announce our victory."

Earlier the Federal Security Services (FSB), which was formerly the KGB, cancelled a decree passed under the late Boris Yeltsin when he was President in 1999.

The move will mean as many as 20,000 troops and police may now be withdrawn, although Kadyrov says that some will stay "because they protect us".

Kadyrov is the son of former Chechen leader Akmad Kadyrov, who died in  a bomb blast in 2004 in the territory's capital, Grozny.

"I cannot express to you what I feel because during this counter-terrorist operation I lost everything, in the face of my father and brothers," he declared.

"The Kadyrov family initially was part of the insurgency and then moved to the Russian side together with quite a few other rebel leaders and fighters," points out Moscow-based analyst Boris Kagarlitsky.

"So in that sense, ironically, now Chechnya is very much in the hands of the very same people who fought against Russians ten years ago … It is exactly the Russian government which invests quite a lot of effort into keeping them in power."

Kadyrov plans to establish Chechnya's own customs system which would allow Grozny airport to receive international flights, allowing the delivery of construction materials to the war-shattered area.

The conduct of the war and Kadyrov's record in power have been criticised by human rights groups such as Memorial.

The lifting of the operation coincides with the killing of five of Kadyrov's critics in unsolved crimes. The most recent was the shooting of top ex-army commander Sulim Yamadayev in Dubai on 28 March.

Russian forces still face regular clashes in the nearby Muslim-majority regions of Dagestan and Ingushetia.