Yashin accuses ruling party of supporting criminals in Southern Russia

Today in Moscow, Ilya Yashin, a Co-Chairman of the PARNAS Party, has presented a report entitled "Criminal Russia Party", dealing with the relationships of the party in power with Russian criminals. The four chapters of the report, based on materials from open sources, are dedicated to members of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party, acting in the south of the country.

The chapter "Executioner from Grozny" analyses, in particular, the situation in Chechnya. The report states that the modern Chechnya is "sodden in crime", and has turned, in fact, into some autonomous state. One of the proofs to this statement is, according to Mr Yashin, that "Kadyrov's opponents are more and more often found murdered."

The report considers the murders of Movladi Baisarov, the commander of the "Gorets" (Highlander) battalion in 2006; brothers Ruslan and Sulim Yamadaev in 2008 and 2009; and the oppositional leader Boris Nemtsov in 2015. All of them openly criticised Kadyrov; and the inquiry of each of the murders reveals the person of Adam Delimkhanov, a State Duma MP and a Kadyrov's close friend, Ilya Yashin asserts.

"It is Delimkhanov, who, apparently, is responsible in Kadyrov's retinue for the dirtiest job," Mr Yashin writes, recalling that Kadyrov had considered the MP Delimkhanov as his successor at the post of the head of Chechnya.

The opposition leader also criticizes the support of Kadyrov at the federal level.

"The whole power in the Chechen Republic is controlled by Ramzan Kadyrov and the people around him. They represent the local branch of the 'Edinaya Rossiya' Party and speak at federal party congresses... With the support of high-ranking party members Kadyrov's regime annually receives multibillion subsidies from the federal budget, which allow them to follow Arab sheiks' lifestyle," the report says.

The full version of the report is posted on the website of the project "Putin.Itogi" (Putin. Outcomes).

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.