Chechnya PM blames inaction for north Russia weekend violence

Hundreds of people gathered in the center of Kondopoga, in Russia's Karelia Republic, on Saturday and demanded that all Chechens and other ethnic minorities from the North Caucasus region be expelled from the area following the fatal clash in a city restaurant Wednesday night. The restaurant, which was reportedly owned by Chechens, was attacked and then torched, while a marketplace was also ransacked.

"If the police in Kondopoga had been able to stop at least serious crimes, including major brawls, then the current crisis would not have happened and nationalists would not have received new trump cards in their campaign," said Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's premier and the son of late president Akhmad Kadyrov.

The republic's prime minister said the violence had occurred against the backdrop of a campaign targeting the constitutional rights of people from Chechnya, where federal forces have waged two campaigns in the last 12 years against militants, and other people from the Caucasus. He said a failure to take action against this had led to the weekend's unrest.

"This can be clearly seen in the very fact that the Kondopoga authorities agreed with the residents' demands, while the text of the resolution adopted at the meeting was signed by some deputies of the City Assembly and public representatives," he said.

Kadyrov said that the Chechen community in the city, which is about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) northwest of Moscow, had asked for help from the government of Russia's Chechen republic in the North Caucasus.

"All the culprits must be punished, regardless of their ethnicity, but this must be done according to the law and with legal guarantees," he said.

However, Karelia Governor Sergei Katanandov, who arrived in Kondopoga Sunday, said the authorities had already met with rival groups to ease tensions and would make every effort to resolve the situation.

"We will not permit ethnic hostility," he said. "I will not leave until you all calm down and until I see that the city is calm."

Police reportedly detained about 100 people Sunday afternoon and remanded around 20 of them in custody on charges of hooliganism.

/RIA Novosti/