Russia: July 7, 2004

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Last months rebel attacks in Ingushetia were planned several months in advance, according to interrogations of attackers  and captured documents. Over 200 attackers, half of them from Ingushetia, were sent in to kill as many security personnel as possible. This was done partly for revenge, and partly to try and intimidate the security forces and cripple increasingly successful counter-terrorist operations in Ingushetia and Chechnya. The Chechens have made themselves pests for centuries by not knowing when to quit, or when to stop plundering and exploiting their neighbors. Ingushetians and Chechens are ethnically related, making it possible for Chechen warlords and gang bosses to recruit in Ingushetia. But the majority of the people in the region would rather be done with warlords and organized crime. 

Corruption in the Russian military continues, as police intercepted a T-80  tank, and another unidentified armored vehicle, with documents describing them as "farm machinery," in the process of being exported to Turkey. The two vehicles were valued at about a million dollars. The Russian military officials (probably officers or Defense Ministry civilians) likely received only a tenth of that. However, that is still a considerable sum of money for poorly paid Russian military officials. 

 

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