Val d'Isere, Chamonix and… Grozny?

The breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya is setting its sights on becoming the next most popular ski destination in Europe, according to ABC News.

Despite being plagued by an Islamist insurgency which has claimed 150,000 lives since 1994, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov says his country is ideal for skiers.

“These areas are perfectly suitable for setting up a tourist resort,” the iron-fisted ruler said without an ounce of sarcasm while speaking to a Russian website.

He continued: “The climate is wonderful, there’s beautiful nature. If the infrastructure were established, then we wouldn’t be worse than any of the resorts in France or Switzerland.”

No worse, that is, except for the fact that bombings, kidnappings and mass arrests by the authorities remain a near-daily occurrence in the province. Three years ago, Human Rights Watch warned: “If you are detained in Chechnya, you face a real and immediate risk of torture.”

Indeed many of the most egregious human rights violations are believed to have been sanctioned by Mr Kadyrov himself – a charge the former militia leader flatly denies.

Nikolai Petrov, an expert on the North Caucasus region at Moscow’s Carnegie Centre, concluded: “I’m afraid that in the foreseeable future there is nothing which can be done by the Chechen government to attract skiers; tourists from the rest of the country; or even the rest of the world.”

So what’s Cheapflights top tip for skiing in Chechnya? Simple – don’t.

© Cheapflights Ltd (Creative Commons image: Rama / Wikimedia)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 10:23 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.