Putin offered impunity to his new Chechen allies who, back then, were represented by Ramzan’s father, Akhmad, effectively giving them free rein to murder Chechen militants who fought against Russian rule, and, more importantly, to crack down on anyone who supported the Chechen underground or even the idea of Chechen independence.

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But like the painters who, finding themselves unable to represent equally well on a plain surface all the different faces of a solid body, select one of the chief, on which alone they make the light fall, and throwing the rest into the shade, allow them to appear only in so far as they can be seen while looking at the principal one; so, fearing lest I should not be able to comprise in my discourse all that was in my mind, I resolved to expound singly, though at considerable length, my opinions regarding light; then to take the opportunity of adding something on the sun and the fixed stars, since light almost wholly proceeds from them; on the heavens since they transmit it; on the planets, comets, and earth, since they reflect it; and particularly on all the bodies that are upon the earth, since they are either coloured, or transparent, or luminous; and finally on man, since he is the spectator of these objects.

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Imputiny: How Moscow gave Ramzan Kadyrov a free hand in Chechnya but plans to rescind it after his death (novayagazeta.eu) The fifth and final part of the Novaya Europe series on how Chechnya’s future course is being plotted today. Who is pulling the strings and what might that future look like?

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