Chechen President Laid to Rest

Mourners buried assassinated President Akhmad Kadyrov of Chechnya on Monday, while his son, head of the presidential security force, was appointed first deputy prime minister of the war-torn region of Russia.

Pallbearers carried Kadyrov’s body, covered by a white sheepskin blanket, through the streets of his Chechen home village of Tsentoroi, in scenes shown on Russian television. With several thousand people gathered at the local cemetery, dignitaries from neighboring Caucasus regions of southern Russia praised Kadyrov as a man of courage who had stood up against separatist rebels, Russian media reported.

Kadyrov and Chechnya state council leader Khusayn Isayev died when a bomb blast ripped through the VIP section of bleachers at a military parade in the Chechen capital of Grozny on Sunday. Four other people were killed and 63 injured, the Chechen Interior Ministry said Monday, giving a lower death count than some earlier official reports.

Violence continued Monday. Two Russian soldiers were killed and five injured in a grenade attack on their base in the Chechen town of Shali, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

The new post given to the dead leader’s son, Ramzan Kadyrov, “will boost the anti-terrorist fight in the republic,” Chechen presidential admini- stration chief Ziyad Sabsabi said Monday, in comments reported by the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

Alexei Malashenko, a Chechnya specialist at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said the younger Kadyrov’s promotion to a top government post might be intended by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin as “a kind of compensation” aimed at keeping him from indulging in a bloody crackdown that could further inflame the situation.

“I think Putin was very afraid of the possibility of revenge, because I’m sure the son of Kadyrov wanted to punish a lot of people for the assassination,” he said.

Chechen Vice Prime Minister Aslan Magomadov, in comments to Itar-Tass, declared that a massive manhunt would take place for the bombers.

“We’ll look into every stone, every cliff, every tree and every villa, but we’ll find them,” he said. “Let them be in awe of us. They’ll know what is the Chechen people’s revenge.”

A rebel website carried a statement by Aslan Maskhadov -- a top guerrilla leader who was elected president by the Chechens in 1997 during a period of de facto independence -- in which he denied responsibility for the bombing.

Rudnik Dudayev, secretary of the Chechen Security Council, told Interfax that he believed Shamil Basayev -- a more radical rebel leader who is a rival of Maskhadov -- was behind the attack.

Investigators believe that the explosive device was planted in the VIP area of the stadium during several months of repair work, and are focusing their search for suspects on those involved in the repair and security efforts, Vladimir Yakovlev, Putin’s representative in the region, told journalists Monday.

Five suspects arrested Sunday were released Monday, and there were no new arrests, Itar-Tass reported.

The new Chechen leadership issued a statement declaring that those behind the assassination “are trying to stop the peaceful revival of our republic, to bring fear and terror to our homes and set people against each other.”

“Those who planned and committed this horrible crime made a mistake,” continued the statement, issued by the Chechen State Council. “The grief we share has further united people.”

Malashenko predicted that Putin was likely to continue his policy of “Chechenization,” and to do that he would probably hold new presidential elections this fall that might be less tightly controlled than the balloting that Kadyrov won in a landslide last year after all serious rivals were pressured to quit the race.

Putin appointed Sergei Abramov, 32, Chechnya’s prime minister under Kadyrov, as acting president, but observers do not expect him to retain the post.

Ramzan Kadyrov’s promotion added to fears among some critics that he might become his father’s successor, but Malashenko said that appeared unlikely.

“He’s very, very unpopular in Chechnya,” Malashenko said. “They hate him. They hate him much more than Kadyrov himself.” Critics accuse Ramzan Kadyrov of being responsible for civilian disappearances and killings, a charge he denies.

Putin may choose to allow some genuine competition among several presidential candidates, so long as they oppose separatism and affirm loyalty to Moscow, Malashenko said.

Malashenko estimated that about one-third of Chechnya’s population supported Akhmad Kadyrov. The number supporting the separatist rebels, who are based in the mountains, is “a mystery,” but many Chechens have at least some sympathy for them because pro-Kremlin forces have killed their relatives.

“Practically each family in Chechnya is linked to people in the mountains,” he said. “Practically each family in Chechnya has lost a father or brother or son. It means that a big part of Chechen society -- I don’t want to say they completely support -- but they understand the fighters who are in the mountains. They don’t participate. But when somebody comes down from the mountain and asks for food or drink, of course they will give it to him.”