How the bandits got their funding

By Dzhambulat Are GROZNY, Chechnya – Almost nine years after the start of the second Chechen campaign it has become clear that neither the Federal nor the Chechen law enforcement bodies have been able to draw up any line of defence that could provide effective protection for the villages and settlements in the republic’s mountainous and rural areas. Year after year the tactics of the underground resistance in the spring and summer period remain unchanged: detachments of guerrillas arrive in a village (usually under cover of darkness), take it under full or partial control, and set up roadblocks at the entries and exits. During the operation the mojahedin set fire to the houses of Chechen police officers and civil servants, killing some of their captives and letting the others go, having extracted promises from them to cease... [read full story]