QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Chechens who live in Moscow are less afraid of the skinheads than they are afraid of [Ramzan] Kadyrov when they disagree with him. I have said this many times. In Moscow, we live in 2006, but the Caucasus simply lives in 1937. The only difference is that in 1937, those who were tortured were not freed for money… Under [Chechen rebel leader Aslan] Maskhadov, it was the Chechens who were responsible for what was happening in Chechnya, but under Kadyrov it is Russia and the Russians. Under Maskhadov, every president in the Caucasus knew he did not want to have another Chechnya in his republic. But now all the other presidents in the Caucasus can see Kadyrov: the more arrogant he gets, the more money he receives, and now the Ramzan-ization of the Caucasus is taking place everywhere there, because even those heads of the republics who are Russian puppets are no longer simply misappropriating Russian money: they are now openly laughing at Russia.”— Journalist Yulia Latynina on “Kod Dostupa” (Access Code), her political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio, April 22.