President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: As you know, a crime was committed today – an attack on the life of President of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. This is, of course, a reaction to the efforts he has made in this close and brotherly republic that is your neighbour, to restore law and order and rid the republic of bandits.
I hope that this work which you and he have been carrying out will continue even more intensively than before. There have been a number of recent operations that have had good results. I think this work must continue so that those who commit these kinds of crimes realise that they will meet with a direct and tough response.
President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov: We have been carrying out joint operations since Yunus-Bek Yevkurov became President of Ingushetia, and there has been significant improvement in the region. We planned and carried out special operations together with Ingush police force, and we have achieved results. Of course, we encounter resistance from bandits, from people hostile to Russia. Today’s horrendous act is further confirmation that we are doing the right thing. We will definitely continue and complete all the measures against terrorists and extremists that began back in 1999 and even before. We have good information for our operations, and the only thing that has got in the way is the rain – we have not been able to successfully carry out all of the operations we planned in the mountainous areas. I think that we will intensify our work yet further, and we have the support and understanding of the federal authorities, the Interior Ministry and the FSB.
The people working in the police force know what kind of extremism it is that we are encountering in Ingushetia and Chechnya today. This is religious extremism, and it goes against religion, against Islam, against the Chechen and Ingush peoples and indeed the whole of humanity. I am sure that we will soon succeed in putting a stop to this once and for all.
Dmitry Medvedev: I hope that you will continue this work, because it has produced results and it really is very important. We will definitely restore law and order.
There is also another matter of importance for Chechnya that I want to discuss with you. You have had flooding in the republic and this has caused considerable damage. What kind of cleanup work do you have underway?
Ramzan Kadyrov: Yes, we had strong rains, more than 300 homes were flooded and tens of kilometres of gas and water pipelines and electricity lines were damaged. I held a meeting with the government and the emergency situations ministry officials that same day and instructed them to provide relief. We have already done all the necessary using the region’s own budget.
But there are some other problems too. Bridges and tens of kilometres of roads have been damaged, and without help and support from the federal authorities we will not manage to fix these problems this year. Due to the crisis, our revenues, as we all know, are not as high as we would like. If we receive support from the federal authorities, we will be able to compensate the flood victims soon. We have already provided initial assistance. People have electricity, gas and water again, and we are now trying to estimate the damage.
Dmitry Medvedev: I know that you are helping people. You took absolutely the right decisions in response to the events. As for the question of additional support, we will discuss this matter now and look at how best to help the republic clean up the damage caused by these floods. So, let’s talk about this now, and about the republic’s other problems and tasks too, of course.