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They’ll Build a Theater Here
// In Three Hours in Chechnya German Gref Did What No One Has Done in Three Years
The Performance
On Saturday acting Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref visited Grozny on President Vladimir Putin’s orders (see Kommersant of May 12). Several dozen high-ranking officials came with him. The purpose of the visit was to inspect the restoration work front in Chechnya. The ruins of Grozny made a painful impression on German Gref: “It doesn’t look so apocalyptic on TV!” The president’s envoy took a liking to the Chechen people. “We need to help all these people rebuild their homes,” he said before leaving Grozny in a military helicopter. Kommersant’s government reporter Konstantin Smirnov observed the productive work of the candidate for membership in the new cabinet of ministers in action.
The invitation from the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to fly to Chechnya with German Gref took me by surprise. Of course I knew that Vladimir Putin had flown around Grozny by helicopter last Tuesday to see for himself the utter ineffectiveness of the reconstruction work. Afterwards he decided to entrust the matter to German Gref. The president was clearly displeased with what Viktor Khristenko had already done in this capacity. But I never expected that after returning from Paris where he had been involved in negotiations for Russia’s accession to the WTO the government’s chief economist would immediately head to Grozny for totally different negotiations, or that news agencies would publish the time of the visit. The fact of the president’s visit to Chechnya became known only after he returned to Moscow.
However, the FSB is an old hand at false maneuvers. The Gazpromavia plane I flew in with German Gref, acting President of Chechnya Sergei Abramov, Senator Umar Dzhabrailov, TV host Vladimir Solovev, and 20 managers of federal services, agencies, and natural monopolies landed at Vladikavkaz Airport at 9:30 Saturday morning. Another plane carrying Ramzan Kadyrov, son of the late president, arrived immediately after. The guests were expected. President of Ossetia Aleksandr Dzasokhov secluded himself with Mr. Gref and Mr. Abramov in the airport terminal for about five minutes. Mr. Dzhabrailov and Mr. Solovev received a warm welcome from Chechens who looked like soldiers. Then Mr. Solovev explained, “these heroic lads have always fought on the federal side.”
I went in search of the transportation that was supposed to take the journalists to Grozny. I felt a bit more assured after locating a Gazel minibus that had obviously traveled on frontline roads. Three soldiers in multicolored camouflage, armed to the teeth and without any distinguishing badges, were standing beside it. Judging from the fact that they were wearing running shoes, some special forces personnel [either from the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) or the FSB] had been assigned to guard us. It is well known that during the Afghan war Adidas running shoes were the favorite footwear of Russian special forces. When the command “into the cars” was given, one of the soldiers took the front seat in the minibus. German Gref’s motorcade consisting of white Volgas and Gazels took off at 100 km/h. Forty minutes later we reached the first checkpoint. Our speed increased even more, with the motorcade shifting to the passing lane – the better to avoid hitting a landmine. However, the concept of a passing lane in Chechnya is arbitrary, just as the existence of roads suitable only for the movement of armored equipment is conventional there. German Gref noticed this peculiarity of the local infrastructure as soon as his Volga hit the first washout at full speed. “Someone should order Anatoly Nasonov (head of the Federal Highway Agency, who incidentally was accompanying German Gref on this trip – Kommersant) to repair all this at once!”
Snipers from both federal forces and Chechen units allied to the feds were sitting in the bushes all along the highway right to Grozny (a distance of about 60 km). The local police saluted us everywhere. Residents watched the cars flying by in silence. It was raining heavily. When we arrived in Grozny, the city was literally drowning in mud. But despite the breakneck speed and mud-splashed windows, German Gref still managed to get a look at the place. Afterwards, throughout the day he kept admitting dispiritedly that “I never expected to see such destruction – it doesn’t look that bad on TV.”
The government building complex in Grozny, like the entire city, resembles a set for a Hollywood blockbuster. Especially when you spot still another sniper sitting on a factory roof or a machine gunner hiding behind a tree. There are more soldiers than staff in Chechnya’s Government House. But it seems this only inspires extra confidence in the officials. Armed men stood behind the participants in the meeting that German Gref called immediately upon his arrival. The meeting was long but productive. An agreement was reached to halt all financing of reconstruction work for two weeks in order to draw up a list of priority facilities that would receive major funding. First of all, they will clear away obstructions, lay engineering services, and build a theater. This is considered to be something Grozny residents can’t live without, since reviving the theater was one of the late president’s last wishes. The entire federal program for rebuilding Chechnya will also be reviewed. Government investments will go mainly to infrastructure projects and compensation to residents of Chechnya who lost their homes will go towards building new homes. At the same time, not only federal agencies, but also local governments will take on these projects. Severny Airport is supposed to start operating within three months. Aleksandr Neradko, head of the Federal Transport Supervision Service, has promised to find money for rebuilding it (1.2 billion rubles) from outside the federal budget. Finally, the FSB should soon lift restrictions on the use of mobile communications. Akhmat Kadyrov also requested this shortly before his death.
After the meeting Sergei Abramov expressed special thanks to German Gref: “In three hours you’ve done what no one has done in three years!” The flattered envoy decided to return his host’s favor and made an equally pleasant declaration: “It’s time to rebuild Chechnya! Professional managers must replace the armed forces!” The Chechen ministers met German Gref’s call with a rumble of approval. They had already been informed that 300 young Chechen men and women would be immediately sent to Moscow’s most prestigious higher educational institutes. It’s anyone’s guess where they will find 300 “qualified manager” candidates.
The situation, and above all, the people in Grozny posed no danger to German Gref. After the meeting in the well-fortified government complex he went on a tour of city buildings. The journalists took off after him in the same Gazel, but lost sight of his madly speeding motorcade. We felt somehow uneasy, since for some reason we had no guards this time. But everything went off almost without a hitch, unless you count the fact that our Gazel accidentally broke into the location of the Interior Forces’ 47th special operations brigade without a permit. The Interior Forces commander, Army General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, discovered us there. He was perplexed, but with a smile asked us who we were and how we had ended up in a high-security installation. Even though he did not get an intelligible answer, the commander did not detain anyone but simply sent everyone to Severny Airport, which is where we wanted to go anyway.
German Gref was fairly calm when he arrived at the airport. After treating those present to hot soldier’s fare, he never tired of saying “we have to help these people” and he did it. Many of the Chechen fighters protecting Umar Dzhabrailov and Vladimir Solovev guardedly but clearly sincerely thanked the Moscow guest for his concern. After that, the entire Moscow delegation was loaded within seconds into five Mi-17 helicopters and quickly left Grozny. The helicopters flew at a low level and constantly shot off false targets to guard against a possible missile attack from the ground. Unlike President Putin’s visit, there were no accompanying Mi-24 military helicopters. Fortunately, they did not encounter a single anti-aircraft gunner along the way. So there was no chance to test the reliability of the anti-aircraft defense in practice.
At 19:45, the squadron landed safely at Vladikavkaz Airport. Sergei Abramov said farewell to his Moscow guests and immediately flew back – to rebuild Grozny with new strength as German Gref willed it.
Konstantin Smirnov
All the Article in Russian as of May 17, 2004
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