Inside Hurricane-4

By Zaindi Choltaev and Michaela Pohl

Human rights organizations in Russia have obtained copies of a directive used to carry out special operation “Hurricane-4,” a set of special anti-Chechen and anti-Caucasian security measures imposed on major Russian cities in recent months and weeks. This document makes it clear that current police harassment of Chechens living in Moscow is part of a specially designed policy. This is important evidence about the methods and aims of official Chechenophobia.

The situation has become very intense in recent days. Chechens in Moscow report staying up late in anticipation of nighttime raids on their homes, which often lead to interrogations and arrests. They frequently suffer beatings and other humiliations during detentions and document checks. Such operations are also giving the Moscow police more opportunities to extort bribes.

On February 27 and March 3, 2004, alarming anti-Chechen and anti-Muslim raids and mass arrests were carried out by troops waiting in trucks near Moscow’s Historical and Memorial Mosques. Over 100 people were detained.

The following document is a directive sent to district and neighborhood militia branch offices in Moscow on February 27, 2004, as part of operation “Hurricane-4.” It was distributed and discussed at the March 3 session of the cultural organization Daymokh.

INTERIOR MINISTRY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Main Directorate of Interior Affairs of the City of Moscow

Administration of Internal Affairs

Central Administrative okrug, Moscow

109180 Moscow

ul. B. Polianka, d. 7/10, str. 2

Tel. 230-35-90

In accordance with directive No. 84/778 of 2/27/2004 of the Moscow Main Administration of Internal Affairs and in the framework of implementing special operations “Hurricane-4” and “Whirlwind-Antiterror” please find enclosed for the territory to be serviced address lists for persons who are natives of the North Caucasus region, for processing according to the following specifications:

For those permanently registered at the present location, it is obligatory to obtain:

– copy of Form No. 1;

– copy of documentary evidence of right to living space (sales agreement, record of gift, mortgage, etc.);

– copy of financial account;

– excerpt from residence book;

– explanations from persons (neighbors, janitors, technical personnel) having information about life style, source of income, automobile transport used (including make and license number), and about persons visiting the address of the investigated (special attention to be paid to women);

– explanations from the investigated which reflect answers to the following questions:

1. basic data (Last name, first name, birthdate, family status, data on spouse, children etc.)

2. where and how acquired living space, place of origin, work place, occupation, ownership of telephones (home, work, mobile), whether lived on territory of Chechen republic, work place and occupation in the Chechen Republic;

3. presence of relatives in North Caucasus Region (if present – biographical data, addresses), evidence of their visits to the residence;

4. whether relatives perished during military actions in the Chechen republic.

For persons with temporary registration at the location, it is obligatory to obtain:

– copy of card from I.D. photo catalogue with evidence of processing by IAG;

– copy of the affidavit submitted to the passport office of the person vouching for the temporary registration in Moscow;

– copy of the temporarily registered person’s statement with signatures (chiefs of passport office, district militia) confirming permission to register;

– explanation from the responsible renter which reflects the circumstances of the registration of the person in question (who is sponsoring the registered, from where he came, type of occupation in Moscow, life style, lives permanently at place of registration or periodically, etc.);

– collect explanations from the registered which reflect answers to the following questions:

1. basic data (Last name, first name, birthdate, family status, data on spouse, children etc.)

2. circumstances of registration at the address (place of origin, work place, type of occupation in Moscow, ownership of telephones (home, work, mobile), presence of autotransport;

3. existence of previous temporary registration in Moscow (address of registration);

4. presence of relatives in the North Caucasus Region (if present – biographical data, addresses);

5. whether relatives perished during military actions in the Chechen republic.

Persons residing at the address without temporary registration or causing suspicion are to be brought to the district Internal Affairs office, where they are to be processed using the possibilities of IAG, results to be forwarded to the Section on Organized Crime of the Administration of Internal Affairs of the Central Administrative Okrug of the city of Moscow.

The resulting materials and detailed memorandum about the work carried out (on magnetic resources and in printed form) to be delivered to the Section on Organized Crime of the Administration of Internal Affairs of the Central Administrative Okrug of the city of Moscow (Rm. 8) no later than 10 March 2004, for the discussion of materials and transmission to Main Directorate of Interior Affairs of the city of Moscow.

Considering that the present question is under the personal control of the chief of the Main Directorate of Interior Affairs of Moscow, I warn you that you will be held personally responsible for falsifications of the collected evidence.

Attached: list on 2 pages, 15 persons to be investigated

Interim Chief

Colonel of the Militia

I.V. Zinoviev

Michaela Pohl, Assistant Professor of History at Vassar College, has written extensively about post-Soviet politics and ethnic relations. Zaindi Choltaev, a former official of the separatist Maskhadov government, was a visiting fellow at the Kennan Institute in Washington last year.