Moscow’s relentless hunt of Chechens
Vienna – Twenty years after Vladimir Putin flattened their capital Grozny in the same way that his forces are now destroying Mariupol, Chechens refugees in Europe still live in fear of Russia’s long arm.
Tens of thousands fled the small Muslim-majority republic in the North Caucasus in the aftermath of two bloody wars with Moscow, the last launched by Putin in 1999 to bring the breakaway region to heel.
The Russian leader later installed Ramzan Kadyrov as Chechnya’s strongman. He has since ruthlessly suppressed all opposition and never tires of declaring his loyalty to Putin.
Austria has one of Europe’s biggest Chechen communities. Many of the 35 000 exiles live in nondescript post-war blocks in a working-class district of northeastern Vienna. The men tend to work as security guards while women bring up the children.
But many on these streets dotted with Chechen grocery shops and wedding boutiques live in dread.
Dozens told AFP of the constant menace of being targeted by Kadyrov’s notorious henchmen, the “Kadyrovtsy”, who have been accused of hunting down his opponents abroad.
Others are afraid of being sent back to be tortured and killed – a fear that is far from unfounded according to human rights groups.
Before the war in Ukraine, extraditions of Chechens from Europe to Russia were being speeded up after the terror attack on the Boston Marathon and the gruesome murder of a French teacher by a young exile.
Despite the conflict, there are no signs deportations will stop.
Hundreds of Chechens have been expelled from the European Union since it signed a 2006 agreement with Russia to ease the return of convicted suspects or those wanted by subject to an Interpol red notice.
The Council of Europe denounced the abuse of the Interpol system by some countries to “persecute political opponents abroad” in a 2017 report. –