Pro-Moscow Chechen Leaders Clash
In a new sign of the trouble Russia faces in rebellious Chechnya, the No. 2 pro-Moscow Chechen leader challenged his boss Tuesday with a major show of force, ordering his militia to search for rebels in the administration itself.
Bislan Gantamirov led a column of about 200 armed followers to Chechnya’s temporary capital, Gudermes, with a promise to root out “terrorists, separatists and nationalists,” starting in the offices of his boss, Akhmad Kadyrov.
Gantamirov, put in charge of Chechnya’s police forces by the Kremlin only recently, did not have the legal power to make the move. Later in the day, he called off the operation and all but admitted that his action was partly to protest Kadyrov’s decision to replace several regional officials with people loyal to Kadyrov.
Moscow is still fighting rebels in Chechnya’s southern mountains. But it installed a Chechen-run civilian administration in peaceful areas.
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