Russian authorities persecute Chechens

A group of Chechen guest workers repairing schools was arrested in Moscow

A group of 20 Chechens was arrested in the Moscow region, in the area of the Sheremetyevo airport. All the Chechens have been repairing schools in the Moscow region during the whole summer, Nikolay Burkov, the chairman of the regional security department said at an open session of the Moscow regional government.

According to Burkov, the authorities have not brought any criminal charges against the detained Chechens yet. Law-enforcement officers are currently investigating the information about the repaired schools and their quantity.

Terrorists carry out their attacks on the old scenario. They take weapons and bombs to an object of attack prior to the actual terrorist act. It happened so during the two hostage crises in Russia: at Moscow's music theatre and at Beslan's school. It transpired a bit later, though, that the terrorists had brought self-made bombs to the school in Beslan during the siege.

Spokesmen for the special headquarters to release hostages said before that the terrorists had brought explosives, weapons and food stuffs (tinned meat and chocolates) several months before the attack, in July. The survivors of the crisis said that the militants made men open up the floor in the gymnasium, from where they took out weapons and food.

School №1 in Beslan was reportedly repaired by guest workers from Chechnya for very low wages. Ismel Shaov, the chairman of the press service of the North Ossetian Interior Affairs Ministry, said that several of those workers had been recognized among the bodies of the killed terrorists, who seized the school on September 1.

Sappers, criminalists and cynologists are now working at all schools of North Ossetia and particularly in Beslan. A spokesman for the special military unit involved in the inspection of schools said that the specialists were examining all buildings thoroughly: “We have not yet managed to go through all basements and lofts of the buildings yet. It is a long and hard work,” a spokesman said.

Three hundred and thirty-eight people were killed as a result of the terrorist act in the North Ossetian town of Beslan in southern Russia. Up to 200 people are listed as missing.