Kremlin Unleashes "Mafia-on-Steroids" Style Chechen Thugs

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:44:20 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: ........continued........ to disband the unit.

The generals refused. At the time, their stubborn support for the outlaw Yamadaev Brothers seemed baffling - a quiet Chechnya was a longstanding Russian goal. But last week, it all made sense: Putin's military, which had been planning the invasion of Georgia for many months, intended to unleash the worst criminals in uniform it had on the Georgian people.

Why?

Two reasons: First, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wants the Georgians to suffer - to really suffer. And Chechens are the world's subject-matter experts in atrocities.

Second, this gives the Russian army itself a veil of deniability: When Putin's spokesmen insist that the Russian military isn't involved in the worst savagery in Georgia, they're technically telling the truth (if we don't count air attacks and artillery bombardments), since the Chechen thugs on their payroll are on the job.

Clip Source: www.nypost.com

OVER the weekend, photographic proof emerged that the Russians used mur derous Chechen mercenaries to do their dirtiest dirty work in Georgia

Amid photos of the horrors of war, grateful South Ossetians and triumphant Russian troops, one series leapt out at me as a former intel officer: Bearded irregulars riding atop Russian-built armored vehicles (old BMPs, for the military-hardware buffs). The vehicles had been splashed with white lettering.

What did the scrawls announce to the world? These thugs proudly proclaimed that they're Chechens serving in the Vostok ("East") Battalion commanded by Badrudin Yamadaev - who shares a reputation for gangland violence with his brother, Ruslan

Last spring, mercenaries from the Vostok Battalion indulged in a bloody gangland shoot-'em-up in the city of Gudermes, near their home turf. The mafia-on-steroids brutality was too much even for the Chechens (which is quite a standard).

The province's puppet president publicly begged the Kremlin and its generals

Tags: georgians, chechen mercenaries, putin, georgian military training, peacekeeping, anti-terrorism, small-unit tactics, antique us anti-tank weapons/gear

Georgian Villagers Recount Tales Of Marauders

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:25:57 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: The violence was much worse in ethnic Georgian villages in the separatist territory of South Ossetia. Displaced persons told stories of how they hid in basements while Ossetian and Chechen irregulars rampaged through their villages. They recounted tales of neighbors being shot and of homes being torched. Events happened so fast that many, especially the elderly, didn’t have enough time to escape.

"They poured gasoline on houses and lit them on fire everyday," says 84 year-old Alexi Datashvili, one of about two dozen elderly and feeble residents from the Georgian villages [...]

In Gori itself, Russian officials have impeded Georgian television broadcasts, replacing them with Russian programming.

The recently modernized Georgian army base in Gori has been thoroughly ransacked. Several hundred meters north of the base, Russian forces are digging new artillery positions – an indicator that Russian troops are not intending to pull out soon.

Clip Source: www.eurasianet.org

The Georgian village of Karateli lies seven kilometers north of Gori. While many buildings in the village are still standing, a large number of homes along the road have been destroyed and every store looted. Village residents recall being terrified as marauding bands swept into the village.

A woman named Marina, who requested that her family name not be used, said she was one of eight people who hid in a garage as the looting occurred. "Ossetians attacked us, they stole all our cars – didn’t leave a single one," she states. Indeed, the only vehicles to be seen in the town were all burned-out wrecks. Marina said that while she was in hiding, her house was pillaged and a storeroom burned.

Locals claim only a few Georgians were killed, although another village resident, Medea Bibilashvili, claimed that "some" young men were rounded up and taken away. The account could not be independently verified.

Tags: gori, karateli, ossetians and chechen irregulars, russian tv broadcast, gori army base

Clipmarks | Ossetians and chechen irregulars Clips

Kremlin Unleashes "Mafia-on-Steroids" Style Chechen Thugs

Georgian Villagers Recount Tales Of Marauders