MOSCOW: A young woman blew herself up on Saturday near a police checkpoint in the Chechen capital Grozny in southern Russia but nobody else was killed or injured, RIA news agency said.
Police asked her to stop and present her documents but when she refused to obey they saw she was carrying a home-made explosive device. They fired a warning shot and she detonated the device, Interfax news agency reported.
The once restive province of Chechnya has been mostly calm in recent years under the iron rule of regional strongman Ramzan Kadyrov after Moscow fought two wars with separatists in the 1990s and 2000s following the breakup of the Soviet Union.
However, in August militants staged a series of attacks on police targets in Chechnya and Daesh claimed responsibility, without providing any evidence.
The wider North Caucasus region remains volatile, however, with unemployment and corruption pushing some young men to embrace radical Islam.
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Woman blows herself up in Chechen capital Grozny — RIA
Woman blows herself up in Chechen capital Grozny — RIA
- The wider North Caucasus region remains volatile, however, with unemployment and corruption pushing some young men to embrace radical Islam
Ukraine prosecutors say former energy minister is suspect in kickback case
KYIV: A Ukrainian former energy minister has been detained as a suspect in a high-profile kickback case for crimes such as moneylaundering and participation in criminal activity, anti-graft prosecutors said on Monday, but did not name him.
Ukraine’s previous two energy ministers resigned amid fallout from the so-called “Midas” case, centered on an alleged $100-million kickback scheme at the state atomic agency that ensnared senior officials and business elites, including a former associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The scandal also claimed the job of Zelensky’s chief of staff, and all three have denied wrongdoing.
“We are talking about the former energy minister of Ukraine (2021 to 2025),” special anti-graft prosecutors said on the Telegram messaging app. “He is charged with money laundering and participation in a criminal organization.”
The former minister was detained over the weekend while attempting to leave Ukraine, the prosecutors said.
“During the suspect’s tenure ... the criminal organization received more than $112 million in cash from illegal activities in the energy sector,” Ukraine’s National Anti-corruption Bureau said in a statement.
Materials obtained in Ukraine and through international cooperation with the competent authorities of a number of countries furnished the basis for its conclusion, the bureau added.
Ukraine’s previous two energy ministers resigned amid fallout from the so-called “Midas” case, centered on an alleged $100-million kickback scheme at the state atomic agency that ensnared senior officials and business elites, including a former associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The scandal also claimed the job of Zelensky’s chief of staff, and all three have denied wrongdoing.
“We are talking about the former energy minister of Ukraine (2021 to 2025),” special anti-graft prosecutors said on the Telegram messaging app. “He is charged with money laundering and participation in a criminal organization.”
The former minister was detained over the weekend while attempting to leave Ukraine, the prosecutors said.
“During the suspect’s tenure ... the criminal organization received more than $112 million in cash from illegal activities in the energy sector,” Ukraine’s National Anti-corruption Bureau said in a statement.
Materials obtained in Ukraine and through international cooperation with the competent authorities of a number of countries furnished the basis for its conclusion, the bureau added.
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