CHANNEL4 FILMS - CHECHNYA: THE DIRTY WAR 3 OF 3

CHANNEL4 DISPATCHES PRES. CHECHNYA: THE DIRTY WAR PART 3 OF 3

"Our film crew returned to Chechnya during May of this year,” said the presenter. “As before, Russian troops were in complete control of the situation in Chechnya. We were taken to the ceremony of the first anniversary of President Akhmat's Kadyrov’s death. This ceremony was not announced in public and was held a day early for reasons of security.”

“In the course of the ceremony the fountains were turned on. And this in a city where the majority of people do not have running water in their houses. All the filming was done under the indefatigable supervision of Russian soldiers. And this in spite of the fact that Russia insists that the Chechens are managing their own affairs and that the republic is attempting to return to a normal course of life.

According to the makers of the film, no one from the "Pro-Moscow Chechen government" was willing to meet with them or to give them an interview. And so, the presenter quietly explained, the film crew of the program "Dispatches", itself went off in search of fighters, as it had done in the past.

As a result, the meeting of British journalists with the group of field commanders took place in the mountains: they included Alman Bakayev, who, as it was explained, on this occasion was dealing with the creation of small forces capable of delivering blows against government forces and targets.

The film makers also met with Doku Umarov, vice-premier of the Chechen government in exile. The meeting took place at one of the bases of the Chechen fighters. "Never in my life have I seen the Chechen people in such humiliation and fear", Umarov said in the “Dispatches” interview.