Persoverzicht - april 2015

• 2015-05-04
• Europa in de wereld

8 april 2015

Duma deprives opposition lawmaker of deputy immunity: The Duma on Tuesday voted to strip opposition deputy Ilya Ponomaryov of his immunity from prosecution. Ponomaryov, who is currently in the US, faces embezzlement charges. The Moscow Times recalls that he had been the only deputy who voted against the annexation of Crimea last year. (ii) According to Izvestia, United Russia Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova may be questioned as a witness in the graft case against the former general director of 'North Caucasus Resorts' Alexei Nevsky and former chairman of the board of 'North Caucasus Resorts' Akhmed Bilalov. (Izvestia, MT, NG, Novye Izvestia)

17 april 2015

Khodorkovsky's Open Russia office searched: Police on Thursday searched the Moscow offices the Open Russia public movement, founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in connection with alleged involvement of the movement's activists in preparing and storing leaflets calling for 'extremist activities'. The leaflets were allegedly supposed to be distributed at an opposition action in Moscow on 19 April. However, Khodorkovsky's spokesperson said that the group did not plan to take in the action. Khodorkovsky linked the searches to the making of a film about Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov. Commentators noted that the searches were carried out on the same day as President Putin was holding his annual call-in session. (Gazeta.ru, Vedomosti)

21 april 2015

North Caucasus militant leader killed in Dagestan operation: The National Antiterrorist Committee said Monday that five militants, including the leader of the terrorist organization 'Imarat Kavkaz' ('Caucasus Emirate') Aliaskhab Kebekov, have been killed in an operation in Dagestan's Buinaksk district. Kebekov, who was considered "successor" to the killed leader of 'Caucasus Emirate' Doku Umarov, was suspected of involvement in the murder of Dagestani Sufi leader Said Afandi al-Chirkawi in 2012 and in plotting terrorist attacks in Volgograd in 2013. (Gazeta.ru, MK, MT; Rossiya 1, Channel One)

24 april 2015

Chechen head orders to open fire on police from other Russian regions: Press reports on a controversy over a statement by Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov, who told his security forces to "shoot to kill" police from other Russian regions if they conduct operations in Chechnya without Chechen law enforcement agencies' approval. The statement was made after Stavropol police officers killed a wanted man in Grozny on Sunday. In the view of expert Mikhail Vinogradov, cited by Vedomosti, the fact that not a single scandalous statement by the Chechen head has so far been disavowed at the federal level may signal that Kadyrov still has a 'special status'. Meanwhile, the Russian Interior Ministry described Kadyrov's statement as unacceptable. (Gazeta.ru, Kommersant, MT, TASS, Vedomosti)

27 april 2015

Conflict between Chechnya's Kadyrov and federal law enforcement bodies: The head of the Russian Investigative Committee Bastrykin has cancelled the decision by Chechen investigators to open a criminal case against Stavropol police officers over the death of a resident of Chechnya during a special operation carried out by Stavropol police in Grozny. In the view of Vedomosti, the conflict between Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov and federal law enforcement agencies could be called 'hybrid federalism'. (Gazeta.ru, Novye Izvestia, Vedomosti