CHECHNYA LINKS LIBRARY

Passport inspection begins at Chechen TACs

By Lecha Sadayev

CHECHNYA - A large-scale passport regime inspection operation recently began at all temporary accommodation centres (TACs) for refugees in Chechnya. It is being conducted by officials of the Interior Ministry of the Chechen Republic as well as by servicemen of the temporary Russian Interior Ministry grouping in Chechnya.

According to the Moscow-backed Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov, the basic purpose of this measure is to uncover persons participating in "illegal armed units," and also to check the status of temporarily displaced persons who are accommodated in TACs, in connection with the beginning of the election campaign.

Police officials are also checking the legality of the Russian passports issued to refugees and the granting of citizenship of the Russian Federation to immigrants from Central Asian republics, whose number in Chechnya has risen sharply recently.

Although the republic's Interior Ministry says that this operation is preventive in nature and is being carried out within the framework of the law, many TAC residents are apprehensive of illegal actions on the part of the police and are taking young people to their relatives in distant villages, fearing illegal arrests.

The Interior Ministry has not yet said how many people have been detained in Chechnya since the beginning of this operation.

Translated by David McDuff.

(MD/T)