Displaced Chechens wary of referendum

The Russian Government is determined to hold a referendum in Chechnya on a new constitution that will enshrine the territory's status within Russia.

" They do not want to go back to Chechnya, and they do not believe in the referendum "

The vote is scheduled for late March, despite criticism from the Council of Europe - Europe's top human rights watchdog - whose envoy says Chechens are unfamiliar with the draft constitution.

But the most contentious issue is whether to hold the referendum in the whole of the Russian Federation, or just in Chechnya.

There is a huge Chechen diaspora living in other parts of the Russian Federation - and many of its members mistrust Moscow's plans.

Helping countrymen

The region of Volgograd, in southern Russia, is home to about 80,000 Chechens - one of the largest communities outside Chechnya itself.

Chersi Gudiev, a children's surgeon who fled Grozny at the height of the first Chechen war in 1995, said: "Most of them are not even considered by the authorities as refugees. It's difficult to get jobs, or social benefits."

He is now trying to assist others who are not so lucky.

"People have to survive, I try to do whatever I can to help them," he said.

Mr Gudiev's own business was ruined at the start of the second Chechen war.

But he has established a working relationship with the local authorities, and has secured some assistance in resettling Chechens on abandoned state farms.

Scepticism

One of the resettled Chechens, Giri Gudiev, is trying to breathe new life into a dilapidated dairy farm left over from Soviet days.

He has hired five local farm hands to help him out - but it is a daily struggle.

His wife and four children have to stay in a nearby village until their own house is ready.

But they do not want to go back to Chechnya, and they do not believe in the referendum.

Back in Volgograd, Vahid Shamayev runs a local Chechen society as well as being a successful businessman.

Like so many Chechens, he is in two minds about the referendum.

When asked who will decide where Chechnya stands, he replies: "Allah. And President Putin."