Most Chechens accept the price for peace

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GROZNY, Chechnya -- Once flattened to a pile of rubble, Grozny's streets and sidewalks are alive again with vendors, cafes, afternoon traffic snarls and people just out for a walk.Children and university students are back in classrooms, electricity and water are partly restored and everywhere you turn in Chechnya's capital city a construction crane is at work on a new apartment block or city building.At dusk, women in stylish headscarves walk arm in arm along Grozny's main boulevard, a pastime that would have been foolhardy as recently as two years ago, when an excursion to fetch water could be fatal.Scores of refugees have returned to Chechnya to reclaim their lives after two back-to-back wars with Russia. The devastating conflict left the capital, and most of this mountainous republic, in ruins. By 2004, not a single house or building in Grozny remained habitable, prompting the United Nations to label it the most destroyed city on Earth.The few dwellings that survived the aerial bombardments and artillery blasts were cleaved apart, leaving kitchen sinks and living-room sofas exposed to the elements.The man responsible for this swift rehabilitation is President Ramzan Kadyrov, a 31-year-old, ironfisted ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin whose speed at rebuilding this war-ravaged republic is matched by a fearsome ruthlessness.A one-time boxer with no political experience, Kadyrov came to power after his predecessor and father, Akhmad, was assassinated in 2003.Previously, Kadyrov's main claim to fame was as leader of his own militia group, which was accused of using murder and intimidation to enforce his father's rule.But there is a price tag for Chechnya's dramatic reconstruction and serene streets: The authoritarian trends of Putin's Russia -- including questionable election practices, corruption and a cult of personality -- have been exported to Chechnya.Giant posters of Putin, Kadyrov and his late father, dubbed "the holy trio," are draped from apartment blocks and public buildings. In the foyer of the new public school, Kadyrov's portrait sits atop a testimonial apparently written by schoolchildren lionizing their leader for his courage and hard work. "You don't rest. You don't eat. You do everything for the people of Chechnya," the text reads.As if to cement his bizarre reputation, Kadyrov paid an unannounced roadside visit to a delegation of foreign journalists that had stopped earlier this week outside Grozny to snap photos. Dressed in a black jacket and open-necked sports shirt, he praised Putin and God before speeding off in his Mercedes-Benz, saying he had to get home."Chechnya is the most stable, most prosperous, most democratic republic in the world," the smiling president said.Fealty to Kadyrov and the Kremlin appears to suit war-weary Chechens for now.Chechnya's ruling elite, many of whom were former rebels, are eager to bury their former nationalist ambitions and profess loyalty to Russia, Putin and Kadyrov."People no longer want independence," said Chechnya's speaker of Parliament, Vakha Abdurahmanov, at a recent news briefing. "The people who really wanted it have died."As evidence, officials claim that 99.6 percent of Chechen voters turned out in Russia's parliamentary election in December, a staggering display of civic loyalty for a republic that spent 13 years fighting a brutal, failed war of independence. Human-rights groups have disputed the figure, saying ballot-stuffing was rampant during last year's vote.However, many Chechens appear deeply grateful for, even awed by, the peace and quiet.At Grozny University, now operating out of a former boarding school, 22-year-old law student Ibrahim Khadjuev said Chechens feel as though they have awakened from a bad dream. Khadjuev's own goals are modest: He wants a job and continued peace in Chechnya.Anything else? "Stability," he said, repeating the word again and again. "Stability is good."In the town of Shali, a 45-minute drive from Grozny, town officials said hundreds of residents are back to work at a local cement plant and there are plans for a hydroelectric plant and sugar-cane plant. The population has swelled to 117,000 from 70,000 in 1995, a year after the first war with Russia began.District leader Eduard Zakaev, a former physical-education teacher, said Chechens are focused on the future, blaming the wars with Russia on local bandits and international terrorists from outside the country."Chechens didn't view Russia as the enemy," said Zakaev, who was appointed by Kadyrov. "We don't want to blame the Russian government."People are tired from the wars and we want to live a normal life."Zakaev went on to heap praise for Kadyrov's reconstruction efforts, a sentiment echoed by a parade of local officials who met with foreign journalists during a three-day trip organized by Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry. The excursion was heavily supervised and journalists were permitted only a few hours to conduct independent interviews.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)