“US creates problems for Russia in the North Caucasus” – Kadyrov

The President of Russia's Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has accused the United States of working to destroy Russia.

Kadirov says the US is trying to undermine the country by creating conflict and tension in Russia's southern republics in the North Caucasus.

In recent weeks the number of attacks in Ingushetia and Dagestan has increased sharply.

These events are just part of the violence that has flared up in various parts of the Caucasus during the last two weeks.

The President of the Chechen Republic, whose father was killed in a terrorist attack, is pointing the finger not at Islamists in the Middle East or Afghanistan but at the USA.

“I like to call things by their proper names. The center is in America. And it is America that is working to undermine the sovereign Russian state. It's not the terrorists, not the Islamic radicals. It has nothing to do with Islam. They [the US] have invented this system. They are creating problems for Russia; they want to undermine Russia,” Kadyrov said in an interview posted on the official website of the Chechen President and Cabinet on Wednesday.

Kadyrov had identified Washington’s tools in this process as public bodies or NGOs (non-governmental organizations).

Kadyrov says they use professional subversives in their mission to destabilize the region.

The Chechen President has added that the US failed to undermine Russia through Chechnya and is now trying to do it through Dagestan and Ingushetia.

“They have such a system: all kinds of public organizations that were set up to spread rumors and gossip, to stir people, as they know that it is possible to create problems for Russia in the Caucasus only on religious grounds. They are training and using top experts. Take the Arabs that are moving here – Yaser, Makhdan – they have been here for 14 years already. They speak Russian better than I do but do not know a single word in Chechen. They were perfectly trained. They don't take part in combat. They are intelligence officers. They are being provided for, they are guarded and financed. They have been sent to Russia to take part in subversive operations,” Kadyrov said.

Some analysts agree the recent wave of violence shows signs of being centrally controlled.

“The attacks in the Caucasus obviously seem organized and planned and have the aim of showing that neither the federal center nor the regional authorities can control the situation in these republics”, independent analyst in Moscow Dmitry Evstafyev said.

Even though many experts agree that the recent wave of violence in the Caucasus was organized from outside, Ramzan Kadyrov remains in a minority in laying the blame on the United States.

While there may be disagreement about who is behind the violence, it is believed the attacks are unlikely to stop while the militants continue to be financed.
The situation in the North Caucasus remains volatile. Hundreds of terrorist-related crimes have already been committed in 2009.