Lies about Srebrenica genocide hide the truth about the massacre of Serbs in Sarajevo

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Welcome rantburg readers

E. Guskova's speech at the international conference “Results of the work of independent international commissions: Serbian victims in the civil war in Sarajevo 1991-1995. and the victims of all peoples in the region of Srebrenica 1992-1995 ”, which was held at the Foundation for the Support of Public Diplomacy. A. M. Gorchakova September 14.

By Elena Guskova

21 сентября 2021, 09:14 — REGNUM

The current crisis on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, the collapse of the federation have become a tragedy not only for people of all nationalities of the former Yugoslavia, but also for the whole of Europe. Hundreds of thousands of dead, millions of refugees, mass crimes, hatred and cruelty, twisted destinies, destroyed churches and mosques, museums and libraries - these are the main milestones of this tragedy.

Events in BiH are complex and multifaceted, they include the problems of the peculiarities of the development of the three peoples, and the struggle for the creation of state formations, and the activities of the peacekeeping forces, and the most complex theater of military operations, when everyone was fighting against everyone.

Multinational Bosnia and Herzegovina was considered the most tolerant republic of Yugoslavia. Nobody believed in the possibility of interethnic clashes on its territory. And during the negotiations of the leaders of the republics of the SFRY about the fate of the federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina did not determine its position for a long time. Nevertheless, events in it developed in the most tragic way.

The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was part of the SFRY, declared its independence in March 1992. Almost immediately after this, the escalation of interethnic contradictions began, which grew into a full-scale war that lasted until the end of 1995.

There are still questions about the Bosnian war that some politicians are reluctant to answer. For example, could the disintegration of the SFRY be made peaceful, why was the entire policy of Europe and the United States anti-Serb, and why did not Russia act as a guarantor of the objectivity of international organizations when considering the Balkan events?

The Muslims began to arm themselves earlier than the Serbs. The National Defense Council was created back in June 1991. It directed the work of the Patriotic League and the Green Berets, preparing the people for defense, for war.

On May 12, 1992, the Army of the Republika Srpska was created.

The Serbs call April 4 the day of the Muslim putsch in Sarajevo, when, in parallel with the mobilization, hostilities began - the police buildings, post offices, and all the most important objects of the city were engaged. At the same time, the Serbs consider this day as the day of their uprising.

It is important to remind that the United States and Europe recognized a united BiH on April 6, 1992. They supported the unity of BiH, and hence the Muslim government. It turned out that the Serbs were fighting against the recognized authorities. Muslims were helped by Iran, and not only. Everyone turned a blind eye to many of the Boshniks' crimes and blamed exclusively the Serbs for the escalation of the conflict. And the Republika Srpska fought to protect and protect the lands where the Serbian population lived.

Today the military events in BiH are largely described. But one pattern can be traced. Since there was no objective attitude of international organizations towards the parties to the conflict, some of the facts that were not in favor of the Bosnian Muslims were hushed up, distorted, or even attributed to the actions of the Serbs.

For example, in early May 1992, a special Muslim detachment, many of whose members were in Islamic terrorist organizations, began to commit a number of crimes, including massacres of Muslim citizens of Sarajevo. They attacked wearing Serbian uniforms. This was part of a conceived "propaganda plan to gain sympathy in the world and ensure military intervention."

Bosnian Muslims orchestrated many of the acts attributed to the Serbs - the bombing of the bread line on May 27, 1992, Douglas Hurd on July 17, an explosion in a cemetery on August 4, the murder of a representative of the ABC television company on August 13, etc. All this was accompanied by an information war directed against the Serbs. Many of these pages of the war in BiH have already been described, documented, albeit with a delay (Markale-1, Markale-2, explosion on Vasya Miskina street, etc.).

But there are events for the truth about which we had and still have to fight. Let's start with Sarajevo.

The inner life of the city during the war was always hidden from prying eyes. It was only known that the city was under constant artillery fire, that unbearable living conditions were created in it, that the people survived only due to humanitarian supplies from international organizations. Crime, disobedience to laws, cruelty, fundamentalism, religious intolerance broke into the city.

The authors of the memoirs describe the unbearable suffering of Serbs and Croats, when the atrocities of bandits were encouraged by the government, and humanitarian organizations could not change the picture of what was happening. Serbs were killed with impunity, tortured in the dungeons of private prisons, kept in tunnels, sent to the first front lines under bullets.

BiH Presidium member Biljana Plavsic wrote to UNPROFOR in July 1992 that 35-50 thousand Serbs in Sarajevo do not receive humanitarian aid, that a prison for Serbs has been set up in the Yugokomerts administrative building near the Veterinary Faculty in Sarajevo, where they are interrogated and tortured they kill and the bodies are thrown into the river.

Academician Milorad Ekmečić, who fled from Sarajevo, spoke about the cruel treatment of Serbs in the city in his memoirs.

Velko Kojovich wrote in his diary on May 17 that armed men came to Serb houses, searched them, looked for weapons, spies, the "fifth column" and "Serbotesters". In the basements of the once famous Sarajevo restaurant “RS” they created “one of the most terrible places of torture that a person can think of.” [1] three parts (Muslim, Croatian and Serbian) Ministry of the Interior.

In the city, after the start of the shelling, a terrible situation was created for the Serbs. Obviously, according to the directives from the mosques and the orders of the authorities, the cleaning of the city from the Serbian population began in any way. In the city, they frightened with Serbian snipers, spread rumors that the Serbs were sending light signals for shelling, that there were many Chetniks left in the city who had weapons.

Mass searches began. Formally, the Serbs were looking for weapons, ammunition, electronic devices. But during these searches, they took away all the money, jewelry, televisions, equipment, everything of value. And if someone just stuttered that they were being robbed, they would kill them on the spot. The Bosnian Muslims from the very beginning had lists of Serbs who needed to be liquidated or removed in any way.

For many years no one wrote about what happened to the Serbian population in Sarajevo. The material about the Serbs killed in Sarajevo was prepared by the director of the Institute for Research on Serbian Victims in the 20th century, Milivoye Ivanishevich.

At the same time, when it came to Srebrenica, the onslaught of the Western media on this issue was enormous - and not in the mid-nineties, but later. Srebrenica became synonymous with the genocide of the Muslim population, allegedly committed by the Serbian military in July 1995. Very quickly, the Serbs were accused of killing 8,000 Muslims, a memorial cemetery was built, and the UN Security Council raised the issue of banning the revision of the “genocide” issue.

On January 15, 2009, the European Parliament proclaimed July 11 "the day of commemoration of the genocide in Srebrenica, where 8,000 civilians were killed by Bosnian Serb forces in 1995". The lie about Srebrenica was difficult to fight. At the same time, the Assembly of Serbia in March 2010 made an apology for the crimes committed. Republika Srpska also agreed with the conclusions of the ICTY, but then changed her mind.

However, over time, more and more facts appeared, indicating that Srebrenica was a planned and well-executed operation by Muslim and Western intelligence services.

In July 2012, Belarus granted political asylum to a major in French intelligence, who showed documents on the events of that time. According to those documents, the assassinations in Srebrenica were prepared by the intelligence services of the United States, Britain and France, using mercenaries.

American John Schindler has published a lot of new data showing that it was Sarajevo who "handed over" Srebrenica to present to the world a tragedy for which the Serbs are again to blame. Many researchers drew attention to an interesting episode from the book when Aliya Izetbegovic told the leadership of Srebrenica: “You know, Clinton suggested to me in April 1993 that the Chetnik forces should enter Srebrenica, massacre 5,000 Muslims, and then there will be a military intervention” [2] ...

For a long 25 years there was a struggle for the truth about those events. Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik called this an increase in the epidemic of lies about Srebrenica. In Banja Luka, the Republican Secretariat for Relations with the ICTY and the Study of War Crimes actively worked. They have a lot of documents and materials.

That is why the materials published by the Independent Commissions of Inquiry on the events in Sarajevo and Srebrenica during the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina are so important today. They shed light on much of what happened in those years. Let's study them carefully, and introduce the published data into scientific circulation.

Notes:

[1] Kojoviћ V. Krvava koshuљa sarajevska. Beograd: Dobrotvor, 1995.S. 65.

[2] Schindler Џ. R. Nesveti terror. Bosna, Al Qaeda, and the Global Qihad. - Beograd: Service glasnik, 2009.S. 216.

Armenia on the verge of a new war

Armenia on the verge of a new war

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Welcome Rantburg.com readers.

 By Artashes Geghamyan 

September 16, 2021 , 13:19 - REGNUM 

The events unfolding today in the South Caucasus region cannot but cause serious concern. And, to my great regret, my worries are by no means baseless and not akin to the alarmist rhetoric into which well-known Western politicians fall when characterizing the Russian-Belarusian joint military exercises "West-2021" this topic. 

In order not to be unfounded, I will give two or three examples. So, on September 14, 2021, the British The Times published an article under the headline "Great Britain: Our Fear of Putin Only Gives It Strength." 

So, in the annotation for this article, we read: "The West should not be afraid of either Russian exercises or threats of an alliance with Belarus. While the West's exercises highlight Russia's alarming military superiority over NATO countries, it lacks an appetite for real confrontation with the West." This is what the author thinks. Readers' logic: whoever is not against Russia in the comments is a Russian bot! 

Further more. The Süddeutsche Zeitung headlined its commentary on the West 2021 exercise: "The West must threaten with painful sanctions." Its author Daniel Broessler, in particular, writes: “No one should be sure that the Russian president does not want to finish what he started in 2014. After Ukraine itself was lost to the Russian sphere of influence, Vladimir Putin, there is still an opportunity to expand territorial conquests, improve communication with Crimea and consolidate the split of Ukraine; thanks to the recreation of the Novorossiya project in eastern Ukraine." 

In its turn, the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine titled its comment as follows: "Putin is testing Biden." NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also complained about the West 2021 Russian-Belarusian military exercises, stressing:

“The reality is that since the end of the Cold War, Russia has never involved the OSCE in observing the exercises. Therefore, we will be vigilant. We will be watching closely, as always, when someone conducts such a large-scale training near our borders. ”

Considering these words of the NATO Secretary General, let us draw his attention to the fact that a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, Turkey, seemingly contrary to the admonitions of the leaders of the leading NATO members, the United States and France, about the de-escalation of tension in the South Caucasus (which the ambassadors of these countries in the Republic of Armenia in its recent interviews) has consistently created an atmosphere of tension in the South Caucasus region. 

Thus, last week, the Azerbaijani (and not only) mass media published information that a special group of the Turkish command was created in Baku, which will represent the Turkish armed forces in Azerbaijan. It seems that this fact speaks very eloquently about the further plans of the Turkish military mission in Azerbaijan to escalate the situation in the South Caucasus. 

Another fact is noteworthy, Bakhtiyar Ersay, Yes, dear reader, the same General Ersay, who actually led the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, which unleashed a war against the Republic of Artsakh on October 27, 2020. The same General Ersay, who in the Karabakh theater of military operations carried out operational command of more than two thousand Syrian mercenary terrorists, Ersay, not without whose knowledge the use of phosphorus bombs prohibited by the UN Conventions during the Karabakh war (September - November 2020) was sanctioned. 

After all, there is ample evidence of the involvement of Ersay and the senior officers of the Turkish armed forces in the direct command of the criminal actions of the Syrian mercenary terrorists, who distinguished themselves with particular cruelty. 

Yes, Armenia itself cannot directly appeal to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Lynn Tracy and Jonathan Lakota, who, I repeat, recently spoke about the political line of their countries regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and who can initiate an appeal by their countries to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. 

At the same time, the fact that four generals were included in the Turkish military mission is suggestive. Thus, the aforementioned Turkish command will be represented by General Abdullah Gatyrchi, General Ender Guner, who will head the command headquarters, and the military attaché of the Turkish Embassy in Baku, General Zakaria Yalchin. 

To make it clear to the respected readers why I mentioned the US and French ambassadors to Armenia, let me remind you that they are the ones who in their interviews more than once, whether in Yerevan or the regions of the republic, have raised the issue of the unsettledness of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Thus, at a meeting with journalists in Syunik region in August this year, the US Ambassador to Armenia Lynn Tracy stated that the consequences of the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh have not been overcome, and the conflict has not been resolved, since the status of Nagorno-Karabakh has not yet been determined:

“We will work as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, striving from these positions to reduce the escalation of the situation, eliminate incidents so that the remaining issues, the post-war situation and the final settlement of the remaining tasks can be considered ...

You know very well that in July I visited one of the border districts of Gegharkunik region, where incidents were registered ... I want to make it clear that we call for de-escalation of the situation in order to end the violence as soon as possible ”. 

The ambassador of friendly France to Armenia Jonathan Lakot spoke (and more than once) on the topic of the unsettledness of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict even more unequivocally . So, on August 23 in an interview with the radio station "Azatutyun" ("Freedom") J. Lakot stated:

"If it were not for the Russian troops, there would be no Armenians in Karabakh ... And the Karabakh issue as a whole has not been resolved. Therefore, we support the beginning of a political process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which the Minsk Group co-chairs are called to accompany ... The reality is that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be determined through negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. The status has not yet been determined. Until this status is determined, neither the French ambassador to Baku, nor the French ambassador to Yerevan can visit Karabakh. My colleague in Baku does not go to Shushi (unlike the ambassadors of Belarus, Georgia, Greece, Bulgaria, Latvia and a number of other countries, except for the USA, France and Russia - A.G.), just as I don’t go to Stepanakert."

We also remind readers that US President Joe Biden on March 18, 2021, in his congratulation addressed to Azerbaijani President Aliyev on the occasion of Novruz, wrote:

“As the Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, we remain committed to helping the parties achieve a lasting peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and facilitating the process of reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan for a prosperous and peaceful future.”

It seems that the dear reader will agree with me that the calls for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, voiced by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, represented by the United States and France, caused a very peculiar response both in Azerbaijan and from its political guide, NATO member Turkey. 

So, as reported by the Azerbaijani and Turkish media, on September 12 this year, within the framework of trilateral military cooperation, the special forces of Turkey, Pakistan and Azerbaijan began an eight-day joint military exercise called "Three Brothers - 2021", which are designed to contribute to "further strengthening the existing ties between the three armies and helping them find new ways to combat terrorism in the region." 

It must be assumed that the Azerbaijani authorities fear that more than a thousand terrorist mercenaries (out of two thousand) who took part in the Karabakh war unleashed by the Turkish-Azerbaijani military (September - November 2020) on the side of Azerbaijan, which continue to remain on the territory of the Republic of Artsakh, occupied Azerbaijan, in the future, if Azerbaijan does not obey their Turkish mentors, they can oppose the regime of the Absheron Sultan Aliyev. For a Turk remains a Turk, even if he declared himself a brother of Azerbaijan. 

The commander of the Azerbaijani special forces, Lieutenant General Hikmet Mirzoev, who opened the exercises "Three Brothers - 2021" and called the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry "the hero of the Patriotic War" Republic of Artsakh in September - November 2020), stating that "three countries - Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan - from time immemorial were not just friendly, but also fraternal countries"... The degree of extreme ignorance of Muallim Hikmet goes off scale, namely: Azerbaijan appeared on the political map of the world as an independent state only in May 1918, and Pakistan - in August 1947 as a result of the division of the territory of British India.

 Apparently, this is a sufficient condition for the "literate Taras", in our case, General Hikmet, to use the expression "from time immemorial". It is noteworthy that Muallim Hikmet's recognition that in his speech he said that Turkey and Pakistan "from the very first day supported Baku in the 44-day counter-offensive operation launched by Azerbaijan on September 27 last year (meaning the Karabakh war, September-November 2020 ). That is, he thereby stated that in addition to Turkey and the Syrian mercenary terrorists, the Pakistani military also fought on the side of Azerbaijan," he said . 

Let us remind readers that before the exercises of the special forces of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan "Three Brothers - 2021" on September 6 of this year. on the territory of the Kashatagh region (Lachin region, through which the corridor between Yerevan and Stepanakert passes) of Nagorno-Karabakh, occupied by the Turkish-Azerbaijani military and Syrian terrorist mercenaries during the Karabakh war (September-November 2020), joint Azerbaijani-Turkish military exercises started with combat shooting. 

Note that in the course of the exercises, the special forces groups of these countries practiced the skills of conducting reconnaissance on terrain with difficult terrain, organizing ambushes on the roads, and also exercised in developing skills for detecting and destroying saboteurs, an imperceptible approach to a conditional enemy, and so on. 

In a word, The Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises were an open preparation for unleashing a new military provocation against the Republic of Artsakh, as well as a demonstration for Armenia (not to the current authorities, the Absheron Sultan has no problems with them), its armed forces of the strong vulnerability of the Lachin corridor, which is the road to life for the Republic of Artsakh.

 Summarizing the above, it can be argued that today Azerbaijan is already openly preparing for a new war not only against the Republic of Artsakh, but also prepares the ground for an invasion of the territory of the Republic of Armenia. It is precisely the creation of an appropriate information background for Azerbaijan's military aggression that frank provocations to block the 21-kilometer section of the Goris-Kapan republican road in the Syunik region serve. 

Let us remind readers that in recent days, the Azerbaijani security forces on the 21-kilometer section of the Goris-Kapan highway, which they recently blocked for several days, are now stopping foreign (usually Iranian) trucks in order to take from them the transport tax and duty established by them. ... Moreover, cynicism and state banditry supported by the Absheron Sultanate have reached the point that official Baku has found an excuse for this blatant provocation, which has the goal of transferring this act of aggression into a hot phase. Official Baku found an explanation for these aggressive and hostile actions, such as:

“In accordance with Article 210 of the Tax Code of Azerbaijan, vehicles of foreign countries entering and leaving the territory of Azerbaijan are subject to road tax, as well as a road duty for obtaining a permit regulating international road transport in Azerbaijan in accordance with Article 24 of the Law on state duty ".

And this action of the Absheron authorities, absolutely not supported by legal acts, was essentially taken for granted in the speech of Nikola the capitulator at the meeting of the RA National Assembly on September 15, 2021, when he answered the question of an opposition deputy about the facts of flagrant violations of the territorial integrity of Armenia by Azerbaijan. 

That is, with the blessing of Pashinyan, the justification invented by Azerbaijan can be recorded in the asset of the Azerbaijani-Turkish strategists when unleashing a war against the Republic of Armenia in the future. Azerbaijan, in fact, has already extended its jurisdiction to the territory of a part of the Syunik region of the sovereign Republic of Armenia, and with the consent of the Nikol Pashinyan treacherous clique. 

Actually, the author of these lines does not have to be surprised at such a course of events, since earlier, in dozens of my articles and interviews, I cited indisputable (even from the side of Pashinyan's treacherous pack) facts confirming the truth that special services from the shores of the Potomac (CIA) and Foggy Albion (MI-6) and their Turkish military-political servants, having organized a coup d'état in Armenia in April - May 2018, they committed this crime not only with the aim of surrendering NATO Turkey and its vilayet to Azerbaijan in the Republic of Artsakh, but also at least the territory of the Syunik region of the Republic of Armenia, including the 45-kilometer Meghri section of the state border of the Republic Armenia with the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

This will allow the Turkish-Azerbaijani strategists, and therefore their curators from across the hill, to take control of the road, connecting Nakhichevan through the Syunik region with the regions of Azerbaijan bordering Armenia and Iran. 

God forbid, if such a thing happened, there is no doubt that the longed-for dream of the New Ottoman Turkish Sultan will come true. Erdogan on the implementation of the idea of ​​pan-Turanism, (fraught with a military catastrophe on a global scale), on the way of which there was an Armenian Christian civilization wedge in the Islamic arc stretching from Gibraltar through North Africa, the Middle East, Azerbaijan, Central Asia to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region ( populated by followers of Islam) of the People's Republic of China. There is no doubt that for the sake of achieving this dream, Erdogan, and now with Pakistan together, will incite Aliyev to unleash a war by Azerbaijan against Armenia.

 When mentioning Nakhichevan, dear reader, I could not help but recall the lines from the heartfelt letter of an outstanding Armenian, Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR, Honored Architect of the Armenian SSR, State Prize Laureate Rafael (Rafo) Israelian dated July 20, 1962, addressed to the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev:

“... In the very first months, the theses of the Leninist nationality policy were solemnly proclaimed by the responsible leaders of the Soviet state and the Bolshevik Party: already on December 2, 1920, at a ceremonial meeting of the Baksovet (Baku Soviet is the supreme body of power in Baku and the Baku region - A.G.) the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia comrade. Sergo Ordzhonikidze quoted the declaration of the head of the Azerbaijan Soviet Republic comrade. N. Narimanov regarding the Armenian regions of Zangezur (Syunik region of the RA - A.G.), Nakhichevan and Nagorno-Karabakh, regions that the anti-popular government of the Musavatists tried to tear away from Armenia. "

The speech of Comrade Narimanov. Narimanov says: “Take them for yourself! Take these lands for Armenia! " The head of the Republic of Azerbaijan comes out and says: "This terrible question no longer exists!" (see G. K. Ordzhonikidze. Selected speeches and articles, 1956, pp. 139−191). 

And here is the declaration itself comrade. Narimanov dated 2 / XII 1920 on behalf of the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan: “The territories of Zangezur and Nakhichevan districts are an inseparable part of Soviet Armenia. And the working peasantry of Nagorno-Karabakh is given the full right to self-determination "... (TsGA Arm. SSR, f 114, d.80, sheet 1. 

First published in the newspaper "Communist" on December 2, 1920). And on December 4, 1920, the People's Commissariat of the Soviet State headed by Lenin solemnly confirmed on behalf of the Soviet government: “On December 1, Soviet Azerbaijan voluntarily renounces the disputed provinces and declares the transfer of Zangezur, Nakhichevan, Nagorno-Karabakh to Soviet Armenia (see I. V. Stalin, Works, vol. 4, p. 414)." 

The dear reader can familiarize himself with these and other very interesting facts on this topic by reading the article under the heading "We renounce recognition: why did Nakhichevan and Nagorno-Karabakh become part of the Azerbaijan SSR?," Published on August 4, 2010 in IA REGNUM . 

I will not quote from the militant speeches of the Absheron Sultan Ilham Aliyev, who never ceases to boast of the victory of the Turkish-Azerbaijani and Syrian mercenary terrorists in the Karabakh war (September - November 2020), won, in the opinion of professional military experts, to put it mildly, from - for mediocrity, and for me - betrayal by the accomplice of the Absheron Sultan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Vovaevich. 

At the same time, it is outrageous that more than a dozen criminal cases have already been initiated with the accusation of Armenian patriots, who, over the past months, have conclusively asserted that there was a betrayal by the political leadership of the Republic of Armenia during the Karabakh war (September - November 2020). However, this is a topic for a separate analysis, and everything has its time. 

I am convinced that there will be an inevitable trial over those guilty of the deaths of five thousand courageous Armenian soldiers, over those on whose conscience the broken fates of more than 10 thousand invalids of the Karabakh war, the loss of housing by more than 40 thousand residents of the Hadrut region, Shushi and other settlements occupied by Azerbaijan. -Turkish military. And there is no doubt that those guilty of this atrocity against their people will be punished with the full severity of the law. 

It is no longer necessary to talk about 75% of the territory of Artsakh surrendered to the enemy, a territory, every square meter of which is stained with the blood of hundreds and thousands of Armenian patriots who died in the Nagorno-Karabakh national liberation war of 1992-1994, on whose conscience the broken fates of more than 10 thousand invalids of the Karabakh war, the loss of housing by more than 40 thousand residents of the Hadrut region, Shushi and other settlements occupied by the Azerbaijani-Turkish military clique. that those guilty of this atrocity against their people will be punished with the full severity of the law.

 I did not want to end the article on a sad note, since Providence this time turned out to be supportive of Armenia and Artsakh, the Armenian people, and there is something to write about good things. Here I would like to cite an excerpt from the article "Separatist General": Kosobokov's appointment in Artsakh caused violent indignation in Azerbaijan ", published on September 10, 2021 in the Bagramyan 26 telegram channel , as follows: 

“The appointment of General Mikhail Kosobokov to the post of commander of the Russian peacekeeping mission in Artsakh caused a hysterical reaction in Azerbaijan. The cause of Baku's fears is the official biography of Kosobokov. Mikhail Kosobokov served in almost all regions of the post-Soviet space, where there are problems of territorial affiliation. 

In particular, the general held the post of deputy commander of the Navy in the Crimea. Prior to that, from 2015 to 2017, he served as the commander of the 7th Russian military base in Abkhazia. Until recently, Mikhail Kosobokov served as Deputy Commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the RF Armed Forces, located both in the North Caucasus and South Ossetia. The aforementioned circumstance, obviously, greatly alarmed the Azerbaijani political establishment, moreover, as an opposition, and the pro-government circles. 

If Azerbaijan's fears are not unfounded, then Kosobokov's appointment can be regarded as a positive message from Moscow to Yerevan, testifying to its support for the decisiveness of the Artsakh people to exist separately from the Azerbaijani regime imposed on them. The fact that Moscow perceives Artsakh as a separate state is evidenced by the recent application of the Russian Ministry of Defense for the purchase of equipment for military units in the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. As we wrote earlier, at the request of Baku and under pressure from the Azerbaijani lobby, the application was removed from the public procurement website, but the position of the RF Ministry of Defense was clearly perceived."

 Let us also note that an equally hysterical reaction in Azerbaijan was caused by the statement of the former commander of the peacekeeping forces of Russia in the Republic of Artsakh, Hero of Russia, Lieutenant-General Rustam Muradov on the extension of the terms of stay of the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

So, on September 10 this year, the well-known Internet edition 1NEWS.AZ published an article by Farida Bagirova entitled “Rustam Muradov“ extended ”the terms of stay of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh. Is he authorized." I will cite some excerpts from this article, namely: 

Rustam Muradov, who completed his mission on September 6 as the commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces (MS) in Karabakh, told TASS that he positively assesses the work of the Russian peacekeepers. He noted that at the moment life in Karabakh is in full swing, problematic issues are gradually being resolved. "I assess (the activities of the Russian peacekeeping mission) only positively. We are assessed by the civilian population - today life in Karabakh is in full swing." 

There are, of course, very complex issues, but the process is underway - the return of people, the solution of a number of problematic issues. Therefore, I think everything will be fine,” R. Muradov said. According to him, Russian peacekeepers will stay on the territory of Karabakh for five years after the conflict.

 "The first five years - according to an agreement signed by the heads of three states (Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - A. G.). Subsequently, a decision will be made on the further extension (stay) of the Russian peacekeeping contingent," he said. Further in the same article, Farida-kyzy, in order to impart objectivity to his writings, states: 

"During 10 months of its implementation, she (the peacekeeping mission - A.G.) was remembered mainly for humanitarian activities, Russian peacekeepers help the Armenians of Karabakh build a reservoir, accessories, bring drinking water, even take delivery (Farida-kyzy laments - A.G.)." But Azerbaijan is well aware of cases of biased or conniving attitude of peacekeepers within the framework of their immediate tasks. 

There are such facts, and they do not honor the understanding by the peacekeepers of their immediate tasks (apparently, the suppression by the peacekeepers of provocations by the Azerbaijani saboteurs on the border with Shushi and in other areas occupied by the Azerbaijani military clique of the Republic of Artsakh is now regarded by the Azerbaijani side as a “conniving attitude” - A.G.). 

Farids-kyzy's worries do not end there: “But this logical question (talking about the prolongation of the presence of the Russian MC in Nagorno-Karabakh - A.G.) can rightly be asked in Azerbaijan. As you know, paragraph 4 of the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020 clearly states: “The stay of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation is 5 years with automatic the intention to terminate the application of this provision." 

Then on what basis does Muradov so confidently assert the extension of the stay of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh? Is it his authority to participate in the adoption of such decisions? In this regard, I would like to state with certainty that it would not be for the peacekeeping forces of the Russian Federation to enter the war zone between the Turkish-Azerbaijani armed forces and Syrian mercenary terrorists, on the one hand, and the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, on the other hand (due to talentless, if not to say, treacherous actions on the part of individual leaders of the Republic of Armenia), a tragedy would be inevitable, when in a matter of days the population of Nagorno-Karabakh would be subjected to genocide. 

Hero of Russia, Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov, no doubt, was well aware of this. Undoubtedly, so was the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, when deciding to send peacekeeping forces of the RF Ministry of Defense to the war zone, being comprehensively informed about the state of affairs in the conflict zone, 

As I write these lines, a story from the recent past comes to my mind. So, at the beginning of 2018, Pope Francis, receiving Turkish President Erdogan in the Vatican, presented him with a medal as a memento, which depicted an angel of peace strangling the monster of war. The outstanding pontiff, it would seem, had a presentiment and foresaw that he would present the medal to the tempting serpent, the fallen angel, that is, the devil. The Pope's angels did not stop the tempting snake in unleashing the bloody massacre in Artsakh, it was stopped by the messengers of the angel of peace - Russian peacekeepers. 

Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep gratitude to Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov, each of the 1960 Russian peacekeepers who are on the territory of the Republic of Artsakh saved by them, and wish peace to their families, Great Russia, which is rightfully considered a reliable guarantor the security of the Armenian people, the preservation of the independence of the two Armenian states - the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh. 

Instead of an afterword 

Dear reader, I want to hope that you will not reproach me for the fact that I want to complete my article by quoting myself, more precisely, citing lines from my other article dated August 1, 2021, published by IA REGNUM under the heading "Russia is the guarantor of preservation Republic of Artsakh." Believe me, this is not at all a manifestation of political stupidity or narcissism. So, in the annotation to this article it is written:

"The geopolitical situation in the world makes the task of not the very format of declaring the belonging of a particular territory to a specific subject of international law in the form of a national state urgent, but, in my opinion, to create conditions for safe and peaceful prosperity of compactly living preserving their national identity. I see such a secure future for the Republic of Artsakh only under the protectorate of Russia."

At the same time, the information war of Azerbaijan against the Republic of Armenia, the ongoing provocations by the Absheron Sultanate on the state border of Armenia, the alternating military exercises of the Turkish-Azerbaijani-Pakistani military hawks in the border regions of Armenia and Artsakh, as close as possible to actions in a hot war, do not leave doubts that Azerbaijan is preparing the ground for the start of military aggression against the Republic of Armenia. And this war is all the more inevitable, the more persistently the collective West will escalate the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian and Belarusian-Polish-Lithuanian border. 

According to Western analysts, Russia will not wage a simultaneous war on two fronts i.e. the Western and the South Caucasus. According to their calculations, the Turkish-Azerbaijani blitzkrieg will make it possible to annex the Syunik region of the RA, if not completely, then at least an area that includes a 45-kilometer section the borders of the Meghri region of Syunik region with Iran, which will allow the Turkish-Azerbaijani hawks to cut through the Zangezur corridor so longed for by them, connecting Nakhichevan and the occupied territories of Artsakh with Azerbaijan by direct communication (road and rail). The internal political situation in Armenia and the activity of the RA National Assembly of the 8th convocation, which is completely inadequate to the current mortal threat to the existence of the Armenian statehood, contribute to the implementation of these insidious plans of the Turkish and Azerbaijani strategists. 

The way out of this extremely alarming situation is to initiate and conduct as soon as possible a nationwide referendum on the entry of the Republic of Armenia into the union state of Russia and Belarus. The alternative to this is war. 

Artashes Geghamyan is an Armenian politician. 

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Slavery in the North Caucasus Cases in Dagestan in 2016-2021

Slavery in the North Caucasus Cases in Dagestan in 2016-2021

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Heavily Edited. Kidnapping of people in Russian cities for the purpose of their further export to Dagestan has become a fairly common practice in recent years. "Recruiters" are looking for potential employees at train stations in Moscow, Saratov and other large cities. Most often, the victims of slave traders are people from the provinces who come to large cities to work. In addition to Dagestan slavery, it is worth remembering that in the 1990s, there was a practice of kidnapping people in Chechnya for the purpose of ransom. The abducted were then also used as forced laborers. If you look into the more distant past, you can see that the use of slave labor was a typical phenomenon in the history of the Caucasus. Cases in Dagestan in 2016-2021 2021 A resident of Udmurtia, Ivan Yakovlev, was able to escape from labor slavery in Dagestan twice. First he worked in a brick factory, then on a farm as a shepherd, the anti-slavery movement "Alternative" reported on 31 July. Volunteers of the movement helped him to leave for Moscow. On July 25, "Alternative"  wrote about the release of a  resident of the Rostov region, Mikhail Ratkov and a resident of Stavropol, Alexander Bukreev. They were found in the suburbs, without documents, where they were exploited in workhouses. Ratkov and Boukreev got there with the help of recruiters. Ratkov managed to visit the suburbs in labor slavery in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya. 2020 On April 21, the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Dagestan announced that a check had begun on information that two men were tricked into working in a koshara in the Tarumovsky district. The victims, that an acquaintance in Moscow tried to "sell their labor to one of the sheepfolds in the Tarumovsky district of Dagestan," initially offering them to work on a farm in the Stavropol Territory. The police learned about the incident from a passenger of the Moscow-Makhachkala bus, who witnessed "the coercion of two men, the same passengers of the specified bus, to work on the koshara," the Interior Ministry said. Victor Bogdanov was born in 1950. Since 1991, he was actually in the position of a forced laborer, passing from hand to hand of different owners. "We can say that this grandfather has a typical story. Documents and money, now one owner, then the other. Someone paid him something, someone just brutally exploited for food. So he hung : on for a couple of years, the other, "I tried to leave, but failed," said the employee of "Alternative" Alexei Nikitin. Spouses Sergey and Olga had to work for free on a farm near Karabudakhkent for several months. They practically did not know anyone by their last names and only some by their first names, since there was no opportunity to communicate with other people. The married couple did not escape from slavery, but left the farm due to lack of work, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan. "Lacking information that someone else, a specific person with a first and last name, wants to leave there, we, and the police, can just come to this farm, see how they will all deny that their They are forced to do something, and nod that they themselves gave their documents “for safekeeping.” And that's all. Modern slavery is exactly at the expense of this and keeps on. You can only help someone who wants to get out of such a situation and is not afraid to ask for help," explained the head of "Alternative," Oleg Melnikov. 2019 Two men managed to escape from Dagestan, where they were in labor slavery, according to the "Alternative" activists.One of those who escaped, instead of the promised work in greenhouses near Makhachkala, worked for two and a half months for free at a quarry in the village of Novye Vikri. Earlier, the man came to work in Moscow, where his friend invited him to go to Dagestan. Another man was going to work at a construction site for 20 thousand a month in Makhachkala, but for half a month grazed livestock for free in the Khasavyurt district. "The men fled from the 'slavery' ride to get to Makhachkala, but already there our employees to help them now, they're on their way to Moscow.", according to "Alternative." Labor slavery is a problem characteristic of all of Russia , and every year the number of appeals to Alternative is growing, Oleg Melnikov told the Caucasian Knot in May 2019. "In Kalmykia we saw about 20 such cases, in Dagestan, a little more in Chechnya, a little less, in Ingushetia. There were five to seven cases: in the Krasnodar Territory, about 40, in the Rostov region, somewhere 20-30," he specified. 2018 A man named Alexey fell into labor slavery in 2013 after he lost his documents and was looking for odd jobs in Moscow. Near the station, a recruiter offered him a job in Dagestan with a salary of 8,000 rubles and bonuses. Alexey, along with nine other people, was sent by bus to Dagestan, where they were met by the owner of a brick factory in Kaspiysk. Twice the man tried to leave the factory, but he was caught, beaten and returned. Only in the winter of 2014, Alexei managed to escape, but near Makhachkala he was stopped by security forces to check his documents, after which, "taking advantage of the victim's desperate situation," they offered him to work with one of their relatives. After that, according to the man, for several years he grazed livestock for free for the owners, until one of the residents of Dagestan secretly took him to an Orthodox church, where Alexei was given a temporary shelter, and later called the "Alternative", whose representative helped the man to leave for Moscow. 2017 According to the wife of 38-year-old Igor Klyushin from Ryazan, on February 16, her husband left for bread and did not return. He had neither his phone nor documents with him. Five months later, he called her and said that when he left for bread, he met a man who offered him a job, the woman said. After drinking with a new acquaintance, Igor Klyushin, according to his wife, woke up in Makhachkala and was able to escape only five months later. 2016 Nicholas, a resident of Volgograd, who was forcibly held in one of the koshars in Dagestan, was able to return home, together with his wife and newborn daughter, according to a representative of the Alternative movement. According to him, activists of the movement complained to the police about the attack of the owner of the kennel, who did not want to let Nikolai go home. Modern slavery in Dagestan The region for which modern slavery has become a reality is Dagestan. In May 2014, officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan began an investigation into the message of blogger Zakir Magomedov about the existence of a slave market at a bus stop in Makhachkala. Zakir Magomedov wrote in his Twitter that the Piramida bus station is a "black market where slaves are bought." According to the blogger, you can buy a man for only 15,000 rubles and a girl for 150,000. Most of the identified cases of forced labor in Dagestan are associated with factories producing building materials. At the same time, the republic demonstrates a high growth in unemployment. Slaves in Dagestan are a cheap labor force that are lured to the Caucasus mainly by fraudulent means.  Video "Slavery of the XXI century (Dagestan)" The video blog of the "Caucasian Knot" shows a story about a joint raid by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan and the "Alternative" youth movement, carried out in May 2013, as a result of which four workers were released. According to the workers, from the moment they arrived at the site, the shop owner took their documents from them and never paid their salaries, and when some expressed dissatisfaction with the work and conditions, he said that he paid 15,000 rubles for each of them, and they must work.  Quotes from the film "Slavery of the XXI century (Dagestan)" Vladimir: " They say they bought me for 15 pieces. I was traveling with documents, and some were transported in the luggage compartment, like slaves in the hold."  Alexei: "In Moscow, slaves are caught at the Kazansky and Yaroslavsky railway stations. They offer work, give them alcohol, feed them and put them in a carriage. And when you come to Dagestan, buyers come here. They say they paid 15,000 for me."  Magomedshapi Magomedov (employer, shop manager): "I buy them everything they ask for food. Then I deduct everything from their salary. We had a verbal agreement with them like this. I don't have any permissions or licenses - that's how everyone works here." However, not everyone is inclined to qualify what is happening in Dagestan as slavery. For example, the Dagestani lawyer Rasul Kadiev, commenting in May 2013 on stories about forced labor in the republic, noted: "We must distinguish between illegal detention, abduction and forced labor. A man from Bashkiria came to us this week. He said that he worked in a brick factory. He was not paid, and he quit his job and left. In this case, it is difficult to say that it was just slavery. No one kept him, no one guarded him, he simply did not get paid." Meanwhile, according to the lawyer, "there is work that the Dagestanis do not go to." Labor in building materials factories is hard and low-paid. As for the facts of forced labor, this is a "labor dispute" when "people are forced to work, they are not paid." Stories of "Caucasian captives" Anton Kuznetsov In June 2009, soldier Anton Kuznetsov returned from Dagestan to the Lipetsk region, who had been considered missing for five years. According to him, he spent all this time in slavery , where the unit commanders sold him. A conscript from the Lipetsk region, Anton Kuznetsov, left for military service in 2003, and in the spring of 2005 disappeared from the unit. The documents indicated that Anton Kuznetsov had deserted in an unknown direction. According to Kuznetsov, the commanders of one of the Makhachkala military units, where he served, handed the soldier over to the owners of a private brick factory for "eternal use", and then "forgot" about him. Upon his return, Kuznetsov was taken into custody. As it turned out, he was no longer a conscript. According to the documents, immediately after arriving in Dagestan, he signed a contract. However, the soldier himself, according to him, did not sign any documents. Sergey Khlivnoy On September 26, 2014, in the Volgograd Region, police officers removed a 43-year-old man without documents from a Makhachkala-Moscow bus route. The detainee claimed that he had spent the last 18 years in slavery in Dagestan, where his passport was taken away. After giving explanations to law enforcement officers, the man was released and hitchhiked to Moscow, according to the Alternative volunteer organization. The bus passenger, who introduced himself as Sergei Khlivny, said that he was from Murmansk, but spent the last 18 years in forced labor in Dagestan. He said that he came to Makhachkala to work in 1996. As soon as he got off the bus, unknown persons took away all his documents and forced him to work at a brick factory in the village of Petropavlovskoye. For his labor, the man, according to him, received only food and old clothes, and he himself was kept locked up. A few months later, Khlivnoy attempted to escape, but he was caught and forced to graze cattle in the village of Talovka. From 2000 to 2004, a man grazed cattle in the village of Yurkovka. From 2004 to 2007 he was in the village of Kazayurt, From 2007, in the village of Kamysh-Kutan. He made another attempt to escape, but he was again caught. A resident of Murmansk in Dagestan was discovered by the volunteer organization "Alternative". An employee of the organization, Alexei Nikitin, decided to take the man out of Dagestan by bus. According to the volunteer, his companion passed the posts in Dagestan and Kalmykia without problems, and already near Volgograd he was detained by law enforcement officers pending identification. In 1996-1997, Sergei's relatives filed a complaint about his disappearance with the police, however, apparently, the law enforcement agencies did not look for the missing person. Blogger Oksana Velva gives on her page the main chronology of S. Khlivny's being held captive, recorded from his words: Summer 1996 - autumn 1996 brick factory in Kaspiysk Autumn 1996 - spring 1997 Akusha village, grazing cattle, sitting on a chain at night Spring 1997 - autumn 1998 Petropavlovskoe village, grazing cattle Autumn 1998 - 2000 Talovka village, grazing cattle 2000 - 2004 Yurkovka village, grazing cattle 2004 - 2007 Kazayurt village, grazing cattle 2007 - 2014 - Kamysh-Kutan village, grazing cattle. Oksana Velva also claims that Sergei Khlivnoy kept himself from his owners, "repeatedly tried to escape and made about 20 attempts to escape, but he was caught either by the owners or" future owners "and taken to farms or shepherds to graze cattle." Svetlana Gannushkina's opinion: "The information of Sergei Khlivny and representatives of "Alternative " requires a thorough check and police investigation." Human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina was questioned by the fact that the person had been in slavery for such a long time and had not escaped. Gannushkina gave an example she knew when a non-local man who had lived for several years in Ingushetia with a local farmer returned to the North Caucasus after a short stay in his homeland. He asked to return to the farmer due to the fact that he could not adapt to Russian realities. Under the influence of the farmer's working environment, he gave up drinking and smoking and did not want to leave anywhere else. Also, according to Svetlana Gannushkina, residents of other Russian regions who could not find work and housing, who were released with the help of the "Alternative" activists from Dagestan, turned to her. "I suspect that they were better in Dagestan - they arrived clean, well-fed," Gannushkina said. Voluntary slavery Andrey Popov The story of Private Andrei Popov, who disappeared in October 2000, was actively discussed on the Internet and in the blogosphere. Returning home in August 2011, Popov said that he had been forcibly held for 11 years  in brick factories in Dagestan . In 2011, conscript soldier Andrei Popov from the city of Ershov, Saratov region, stated that since 2000 he had  been in slavery in Dagestan, where he worked illegally at a brick factory until he fled. On August 17, 2011, Andrei Popov, after escaping from Dagestan, came to the police and was immediately arrested. He was later charged with desertion. The Main Military Investigation Department disseminated information that the soldier admitted the fact of desertion and asked to consider his case in a special order. Popov's relatives, as well as he himself denied this, but before the start of the hearing, Popov said that he admitted his guilt. Human rights activists believe that pressure was exerted on him. During the trial at the Saratov Garrison Military Court, Andrei Popov stated that he had been beaten at brick factories in Dagestan. "Some scars on my body were received during the period when I was in Dagestan. As a result of beatings from the Dagestanis. Sometimes I refused to work. It was in a brick factory. There were several cases. They beat me with truncheons, kicked me. When you fall, you can and run into a brick," said Popov. When asked by Judge Igor Surovtsev about work at the last brick factory in Dagestan, the defendant said that control over the workers was exercised by so-called foremen from among the local residents. "The Dagestani brigade leaders made sure that they did not break away from work, that there was no downtime. Otherwise, they could be beaten," the defendant noted. According to him, he lived on the territory of the plant in a dormitory, where there were a little more than a dozen sleeping places, while there were about 200 employees. "The rest slept on the floor. There were guards, the hostel was closed at night," Popov added. He said that the brick factory was run by a man named "Doctor Magomed. "They didn’t give money to their hands. They promised to give it to everyone at the end of the season. They promised it, but few received it," he said. In September 2011, investigators, together with Andrei Popov,  visited brick factories where, according to the serviceman, he was held in slavery . Magomed Radjabov, director of the Caspian brick factory LLC Stroyservice,  accused Popov of disseminating false information.  Video "Private Popov - a slave or a deserter?" The video blog of the "Caucasian Knot" presents a story about the results of an inspection by investigators of the military prosecutor's office of one of the brick factories in Dagestan, where, according to Andrei Popov, he was held in slavery for 11 years. The owner of the Kaspiysk brick factory denies this information, calling this information a lie or a slander. Video "Andrey Popov in Dagestan" Continuation of investigative actions in Dagestan. Andrei Popov, accused of desertion, accompanied by investigators from the military prosecutor's office, visits brick factories near Kaspiysk and the village of Mekegi, Levashinsky district, where, according to him, he was held in slavery. Fight against slavery in Dagestan The "Caucasian Knot" has repeatedly reported cases of the release of people who were illegally detained at enterprises in Dagestan. In particular, in June 2014, it was reported about the release of three people from labor slavery in Dagestan, including two citizens of the Republic of Belarus. According to statistics from the International Organization for Migration, in 2010, 103 cases of slavery were recorded in the country and with Russians outside Russia. In 2011 - 50, the same - for nine months of 2012. However, human rights activists are sure that there are hundreds and thousands of slaves in Russia. According to the UN, Russia has one of the world's largest slave trade markets. According to the leader of the public organization "Alternative" Oleg Melnikov, almost all of the abducted people got to Dagestan in the same way: people approached them at bus stops, offered them good jobs. Those who did not want to go got drunk, or had sleeping pills in their food. So they ended up in Dagestan. According to Melnikov, there are several participants in the criminal gang: "The person who finds people in Moscow and brings them to the bus gets at least a thousand rubles for each." Drivers, according to Melnikov, are also "in the share." "At the checkpoints, it is the drivers who negotiate with the inspectors," Melnikov said. In Makhachkala, these people are bought by those who need cheap labor. On average, abductees spend more than a year in Dagestan. Hired workers are kicked out if they can no longer physically work. According to the correspondent of "Komsomolskaya Pravda" Dmitry Steshin, volunteers involved in the liberation of slaves, trying not to inform the police about their raid in advance because "there were situations when the very same police warned criminals - and slaves hid." According to Zakir Ismailov, head of the Dagestan branch of the Alternative movement, "There were cases when people managed to escape, but they were immediately caught by patrol traffic police and taken to the department." And then returned to the owners of the factories. However, according to the prosecutor's office of the Republic of Dagestan , "the facts of coercion in any form to work were not established by the prosecutor's check." The check took place at brick factories in the cities of Makhachkala, Kizilyurt, Kizlyar, as well as in other regions of the republic. According to the prosecutor's office, explanations were taken from all employees of the factories about the circumstances of their arrival in the republic, their employment, living and working conditions, the official website of the department says. Kidnapping, slave trade and forced labor in Chechnya (1990s) New Russia faced the problem of slavery in the Caucasus in the early 1990s, when power in Chechnya passed into the hands of Dzhokhar Dudayev and his supporters. Later, when Chechnya became an enclave excluded from the Russian legal field, forced labor became a part of everyday reality in the republic. In total, in Chechnya in the 1990s, more than 46,000 people were enslaved or used for forced labor, from collecting wild-growing wild garlic to building roads to Georgia through Itum-Kale and Tazbichi. Often wage earners deception involved in Chechnya under the pretext of making money, but the payment for the work they have not received. Not only slave labor, but also kidnapping for ransom served as one of the sources of income for organized crime in Chechnya. Ramazan Labazanov was the first in Chechnya (at the beginning of 1994) to kidnap people for ransom. With the outbreak of hostilities in December 1994, the belligerents practiced the sale and exchange of prisoners and dead to each other. In the first year of the military campaign, the militants freed captured soldiers and officers mainly for propaganda purposes. After the Russian troops were withdrawn from Chechnya in the fall of 1996, the bandits began to take hostage people who collaborated with the federal authorities and the Doku Zavgayev regime. Since mid-1997, when the journalists of NTV and ORT were kidnapped and a huge ransom was paid for them, the abductions were put on stream. Initially, the law enforcement agencies of Chechnya tried to deal with this business, but then themselves involved in brokering of the slave trade, and even the kidnapping started. Slavery in the Caucasus: a history According to Johann Blaramberg, a 19th century geographer and military topographer who served in the Russian Imperial Army, either prisoners of war or those who were taken away during raids into enemy territory fell into slavery in those days. In peacetime, people could only be kidnapped secretly, otherwise the kidnapper was subjected to blood feud. The captives ended up in Anapa, Sukhum-Kala (Sukhum), Poti and Batum for sale to Turkish traders who took them to Istanbul, and from there to Egypt and the ports of the Levant (eastern Mediterranean coast). In the "Memorandum of the Chief of the Dagestan Region to the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Army, Prince Baryatinsky," dated March 30, 1861, it is reported that in the Caucasus the slave class "was formed for the most part from Christian prisoners captured in predatory raids, and is in the most humiliating state that can be created. for a person." Slaves and female slaves were considered "the property of their owners, like any other domestic animal, with which the owner has the right to do as he wants." "They take care of their slaves because, having lost a slave, they will incur material damage," said the note. The Caucasus was home to the largest slave markets in the Middle East. In particular, such a fair was located in the village of Endirey (now a village in the Khasavyurt district of Dagestan). The historian Semyon Mikhailovich Bronevsky (1763-1830) called Andirey "the main fair for prisoner bargaining." The Andireans bought captives from the highlanders in exchange for gunpowder, bread, salt, and sometimes for money. From Endireya chained prisoners carried large convoys "through earth Chechen, Ingush and Circassian secretive roads by Russian guard to Anapa." In addition, the slave trade, practiced in the region for centuries, caused the emergence of intermediaries in the person of merchants, who turned the slave trade into a special craft. Pre-revolutionary historians wrote: "The Armenians were intensively engaged in this kind of trade, who did not abandon this craft even with the appearance of the Russians in the Caucasus." Taking advantage of their position, they helped the highlanders to steal people within our borders, receiving an appropriate reward from the highlanders for this, and then helped the Russian government in negotiations with the highlanders on the ransom of the same prisoners, also not without a fee, or they themselves ransomed them in order to resell them to the Russians. The slave trade in the North Caucasus continued to exist until the 60-ies of XIX century 18. Follow the hyperlinks to notes in the original article. All in Russian. Notes: Slavery of the XXI century (Dagestan) // Caucasian Knot-Youtube, 15.05.2013. ↑  Slave-owning regions of Russia // Free Press, 16.05.2013. ↑  Private Popov - a slave or a deserter? // Caucasian Knot-Youtube, 08.09.2011. ↑  Andrey Popov in Dagestan // Caucasian Knot-Youtube, 09/14/2011. ↑  The stories of Russian slaves: from the Dagestan plant to the Moscow electric trains // NEWSru . com , 03.01.2013. ↑  Slaves are brought to Dagestan from Moscow // "Echo of Moscow", 05/18/2013. ↑  Russian slaves are used in brick factories in Dagestan // Vesti FM , 05/30/2013. ↑  Slavery. The modern look of Dagestan // Political News Agency, 09.09.2014. ↑  Ways of Peace in the North Caucasus / Independent Expert Report, ed. V.A. Tishkov. M., 1999.S. 18; Losses of the armed forces of Russia and the USSR in armed conflicts in the North Caucasus (1990-2000) // Ryazantsev S.V. Demographic and migration portrait of the North Caucasus. Stavropol: Service School, 2003.S. 26-77. ↑  Slaves of the Argun Gorge. On the eve of the XXI  century, Chechnya became a place of human trafficking // Nezavisimaya gazeta, 25.05.2000. ↑  Evloev M. Redemption and death // Results, 28.12.1999, p. 14; Losses of the armed forces of Russia and the USSR in armed conflicts in the North Caucasus (1990-2000) ... ↑  Evloev M. Ransom and death ... ↑  Blaramberg I. Topographic, statistical, ethnographic and military description of the Caucasus (Nalchik: El-Fa, 1999) // Eastern Literature. ↑  Blaramberg I. Topographic, statistical, ethnographic and military description of the Caucasus ... ↑  TSGARD F. 120 Op. 2 D. 71a; Inozemtseva E. On the issue of trade in "human goods" in the context of the Caucasian policy of Russia in the North-East Caucasus in the 17th - first half of the 19th  centuries. // Historical Bulletin, vol. VIII. Nalchik: Publishing House of the Institute for Humanitarian Research of the Government of the KBR and KBSC RAS, 2009. ↑  Bronevsky S.M. The latest geographical and historical news about the Caucasus. Ch. 2. M., 1823; Inozemtseva E. On the issue of trade in "human goods" in the context of the Caucasian policy of Russia in the North-Eastern Caucasus in the 17th - first half of the 19th centuries ... ↑  Shamray V.S. Historical background to the issue of yasyrs in the North Caucasus and in the Kuban region and documents related to this issue. B. m. B. g .; E. Inozemtseva On the issue of trade in "human goods" in the context of the Caucasian policy of Russia in the North-Eastern Caucasus in the  17th - first half of the 19th  centuries .... ↑  Ramazanov Kh.Kh. On the issue of slavery in Dagestan // Scientific notes of the IIYAL Dag. F. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. T. 9. Makhachkala, 1961; Inozemtseva E. On the issue of trade in "human goods" in the context of the Caucasian policy of Russia in the North-Eastern Caucasus in the 17th - first half of the 19th  centuries ... ↑