Afghan War veterans remind Dagestani authorities about idling rehabilitation centre

The Makhachkala Afghan War veterans, who are holding a picket, have ordered a large warmed-up tent and are ready to mobilize all their colleagues to make the protest massive. In Dagestan, they had solemnly opened the "Afghanets" rehabilitation centre for veterans, but it has never started working, said the picketers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 17-25, several dozens of Dagestani Afghan War veterans held a hunger strike in a Makhachkala park, demanding from the authorities to provide them with the due housing. At the request of the clergymen, the veterans stopped their hunger strike, but stayed in the park, demanding a meeting with Vladimir Vasiliev, the head of Dagestan.

The round-the-clock picket of Dagestani Afghan War veterans demanding a meeting with Vasiliev is on for the 25th day. As veterans confess, they had not expected that their picket would have been so long.

"If the head of the republic can't accept the Afghans War veterans, who have been living in the tent for 25 days, then how can any other citizen get to see him?" one of the protesters complained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

If the Dagestani leader goes on ignoring their demands, from October 14 on, the picketers will start gathering their colleagues in the park, and the protest will become more widespread, activists say.

"We want from the republic's authorities to fulfil all their social obligations, to annually allocate funds for veterans from the Dagestani budget, and not to issue housing certificates, but transfer the money to veterans' personal accounts. We want them to clear out why the rehabilitation centre for veterans, which was symbolically called "Afghanets" and was solemnly opened, hasn't worked for a single day," said Gasaini Gasainiev, an activist.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 11, 2019 at 07:26 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.