By empty (9/4/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, concerned about the situation in Kondopoga in the Republic of Karelia, has reproached the local authorities for inactivity. \"Massive disturbances, triggered off by conflict between a company of drunk young men with a criminal record, and a barman of Chechen origin, who had reprimanded them for an unruly conduct, are continuing in Karelia\'s Kondopoga. A brawl has evolved into an ethnically motivated conflict with a clearly anti-Chechen and anti-Caucasus bias,\" Kadyrov said in an official statement on Monday.
Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, concerned about the situation in Kondopoga in the Republic of Karelia, has reproached the local authorities for inactivity. \"Massive disturbances, triggered off by conflict between a company of drunk young men with a criminal record, and a barman of Chechen origin, who had reprimanded them for an unruly conduct, are continuing in Karelia\'s Kondopoga. A brawl has evolved into an ethnically motivated conflict with a clearly anti-Chechen and anti-Caucasus bias,\" Kadyrov said in an official statement on Monday. \"The unrest is continuing against a backdrop of massive abuses of constitutional rights and looting of retail outlets,\" Kadyrov said. People directly interested in redistributing the spheres of influence and in upsetting the political situation in Kondopoga could stand behind these ethnic feuds and so-called spontaneous disturbances,\" the Chechen prime minister goes on to say. \"But the local authorities have been inactive, yielding to those who breached public peace. This can be seen from the fact that the Kondopoga authorities accepted the local residents\' demands, while a resolution passed by a rally, was signed by individual deputies of the city legislature and representatives of the public. The principle of supremacy of law must be absolutely observed in Kondopoga and in the rest of Russia, while emotions and the nationalistic sentiment musty be relegated. The local authorities\' weakness points to their helplessness,\" Kadyrov said. \"I declare, aware of the entire responsibility, that if the Karelia authorities fail to find forms and methods of settling the situation, we shall manage to find law-based methods to bring the situation back into a legal arena. If the Kondopoga police had been more efficient in curtailing serious crimes, including massive fights, the current crisis would not have erupted, while the nationalists would not have scored new points in their campaign,\" the Chechen prime minister said. (Interfax)