Chechen regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov. A gun battle broke out early Thursday in the capital of Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, puncturing the patina of stability ensured by years of heavy-handed rule by a Kremlin-appointed leader.
Police waged hours-long gunbattle with Islamic militants who attacked Chechnya’s capital on December 4, leaving at least 20 people dead and underscoring Russia’s vulnerability just as President Vladimir Putin used patriotic and religious imagery in his state-of-the-nation address to defend his standoff with the West.
The clashes in Grozny, the city’s biggest in years, dented a carefully nurtured image of stability created by Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed …read more
Source: The Indian Express
