Kozak really turned out to be not very smart after all. I used to think well of him. But after these words… *"The Stavropol tragedies have no interethnic dimension. The situation in the region, both as it is developing and as it began, has nothing to do with politics. Yes, there was a street fight. There are many such fights; they happen in Moscow and other regions as well. Nevertheless, some people are trying to inflame the situation in the region in precisely this direction." *In general, it is hard to imagine anything more likely to inflame ethnic hatred than stupid official statements saying, “it was just a domestic dispute.” Especially when the next phrase is, “we will not allow another Kondopoga” (a reference to the 2006 ethnic riots in the town of Kondopoga). And the episode with circulating a composite sketch that looked like Dolph Lundgren was the height of idiocy. But, as they say, woe to the opposition that never tries to put itself in the authorities’ shoes. Criticizing is easy. One has to imagine what I would do in Kozak’s or Chernogorov’s place. The problem the authorities are facing is clear: It is obvious that these two were killed by Chechens. It is obvious that they were killed in revenge. It is obvious that they will not be able to find the killers. It is obvious that the authorities cannot announce, “we know they were killed by Chechens.” Nor do they have the right to. After all, there is criminal procedure and the presumption of innocence. It is obvious that spontaneous pogroms in Stavropol Krai must be prevented. It is obvious that they need to shield the Chechens in every possible way. They have played along with Ramzancheg so much that he is now wrapping everyone around his finger and doing whatever he wants. How to stop him is unclear, because he is the key to “Putin-style peace in the Caucasus.” To solve the problem, the authorities chose the path of silence. But first, the silence is not working. Even papers like Komsomolskaya Pravda are writing about it. Second, this is not just a delayed explosion; it is also planting even more explosives where the blast will eventually happen. Here is my emergency action plan in response to the Stavropol situation. Announce that the motive for the murder is unclear. The investigation will determine it. But murder motivated by ethnic hatred is the main line of inquiry, and it will be pursued first. Officials should be forbidden from discussing the murders in any other terms (“it was just everyday hooliganism” or “they were definitely savages”). People should be removed from office for that. State directly and without any embarrassment that a curfew is being imposed. But it should be enforced not by the police alone, but jointly by Cossack units and the police. Right now, a curfew has effectively been imposed de facto, but they keep denying it. Ban the sale of alcoholic beverages after 3 p.m. until the curfew is lifted. Drop all cases of inciting ethnic hatred that arose after the murders. Nothing good will come of them anyway. People in a state of shock can shout anything. Create an investigation information center. Publish some information every day. I do not think there is much there that needs to be kept secret for the sake of the investigation. And coming up with some daily updates is not difficult. Put out public notices calling for mass witness testimony. For both incidents: the murdered Chechen and the Russians. In practice, only a handful of people will come, because nobody really knows or saw much of anything. But it will be an excellent argument against those who say, “the whole city knows, every dog in town knows, and the police are doing nothing.” If you know something, give testimony. And if only three people show up in all of Stavropol, then there is nothing to gossip about. Gather representatives of the diasporas and tell them that outsiders have far too many weapons on hand. Conduct demonstrative raids on places like the Hotel Tourist and other dens to look for weapons and check compliance with registration rules. So there is no talk of planted ammunition, diaspora representatives can take part in the raids as public observers. The same goes for Cossack representatives. Of course, they will not find any weapons (those are being kept by these diaspora representatives themselves), but it will still be satisfying. As harshly, publicly, and aggressively as possible, expel from the region everyone whom operational intelligence links to ethnic organized crime groups. For at least three months. Obviously, this measure is on the edge of legality. But extraordinary situations require extraordinary decisions. Offer them all the chance to leave voluntarily within a week. Those who refuse will be caught violating some law. After all, when it comes to the “dissenters,” the authorities are very good at this trick. Force Ramzancheg to make a public statement saying that the Chechens themselves will do everything possible to find the killers (if they really are Chechens). And that “the entire Chechen people resolutely condemn” it, etc. The key point is that he must say he resolutely condemns any manifestations of blood revenge. Once and for all, put an end to the strange practice of “representatives of the Chechen government and parliament arriving at the scene of a conflict.” I’m sick of it already. Every time there is some fight involving Chechens, some mounted raiders in Mercedeses show up. Back in the day, at least they were openly bandits. Now they are bandits with parliamentary IDs, which is completely intolerable. And of course, the ritual meetings with diaspora representatives on the theme of “no one is going to offend you.” Lots of meetings. That is the only thing being done right now. These are emergency measures. And to a large extent PR measures. Then comes the fork in the road: Actually find the criminals. Which is unlikely, given the capabilities of our police. And completely unacceptable to the authorities, because they would have to admit that it really was Chechens. And that, of course, cannot be done. In order to preserve INTERETHNIC PEACE, only Russians can be held accountable. There are lots of them. The small proud nations must not be touched. Simply drag everything out. Preliminary inquiry, investigation, blah blah blah. In two years no one will even remember it. Judging by everything, the second option has already been chosen. But that is generally the option chosen in our life anyway. Unless, of course, the matter concerns political extremism. Then everything moves fast.