Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov gave an interview to the Austrian newspaper, Der Standart about the trial in Austria and war in Chechnya.

Andrei Soldatov, the editor of Agentura.ru, which covers the actions of Russian secret services, said, “There are many mysterious assassinations and disappearances of Chechens in various countries like Qatar, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Most of the victims were active in the Chechen struggle movement, in the past. Until now, only the court in Qatar has noticed the complicity of the Russian Federation. In other cases, there were repeated assertions on the authorities over the participation of Russia, but a direct accusation has never come. But as usual, Moscow has denied any involvement in all of these cases, just like Kadyrov. All this makes it very difficult to draw the Russian state or Kadyrov to justice for these murders. A law, which has existed in Russia since 2006, allows the state to kill terrorists outside of Russian territory. Our sources from the Russian Interior Ministry confirmed that they have a special agreement with Azerbaijan and this agreement let Russian Special Forces act in Azerbaijan. We have published this information in the Novaya Gazeta. There was no denial from either Russia or Azerbaijan.”

The Russian journalist also commented about the current trial in Vienna related to the murder of Umar Israilov. “To be honest, I do not believe it. Until now, the Western countries have found no answers yet, as murders in their countries happen. Even if there is some evidence which shows Kadyrov’s involvement in the crime, nothing has been changed. The Kremlin believes Kadyrov as a guarantor of the stability in Chechnya and therefore they accept all of his decisions and actions,” said Soldatov.

“The war in Chechnya has been officially over since 2009. But is the war really over?” asked the correspondent from the Austrian newspaper. As a response, Soldatov gave a negative answer. He said, “On the contrary; the number of terrorist attacks increase in Chechnya, in the North Caucasus and even in Moscow. The myth of stability survived only because the Kremlin controls the media and they do not let the population know anything about the issues in the North Caucasus.”

Another question was about the return of Chechen refugees. Soldatov pointed out that it is related to the refugee’s personal relationships with Kadyrov and his circle. If someone has a bad history with them, nothing good awaits them there.

*Text was translated by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco