EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Taxpayers Have Spent $7.2 Million on Chechen-Related Grants Since 2007

As media ruminate about Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s possible motives in the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks, one that can be laid to rest is any suggestion that the U.S. has failed to assist  financially the countries associated with the ethnic Chechen terror suspects.

A review of U.S. federal tax grants and international aid reveals that American taxpayers have spent tens of millions funding humanitarian efforts in Chechnya, Dagestan (Dzhokhar’s birthplace and the current home of his father, Anzor), and Kyrgyszstan (Tamerlan’s birthplace).

Since 2007, the United States has given at least $7,197,095 in federal grants for Chechen-related causes, including:  “life-sustaining relief to war-affected populations of Chechnya through assistance in shelter, water and sanitation,” building facilities for “end violence against women and girls in Chechnya” efforts, “free legal assistance in Chechnya,” and even a grant to “raise professional competence of teachers from St. Petersburg and teachers from Chechnya in tolerance and international awareness.”

In total, the State Department has allocated 13 taxpayer-funded grants to recipients that include: House of Peace And Non-Violence, International Rescue Committee, Regional Public Foundation NIZAM, World Vision, Danish Refugee Council, and International Medical Corps.

While the Tsarnaev family originally hails from the Russian republic of Chechnya, Dzhokhar was born in Dagestan in 1993; indeed, his father still lives there today. As recently as 2009 and 2010, U.S. taxpayers spent $945,873 on combating trafficking of women in Dagestan, providing “essential services” through the International Medical Corps, and supporting human rights through the Dagestan Mothers for Human Rights. According to NBC News, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was spotted making six trips to a known Islamic militant in a mosque in Dagestan.

Dzhokhar and Tamerlan also lived in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan in the town of Tokmok before immigrating to America; Tamerlan was born there in 1986. U.S. taxpayers have been even more generous in supporting causes in the Tamerlan’s birthplace. The United States has spent over ten times as much–$74,298,328–on grants Kyrgyzstan-related grants.  

Indeed, American generosity to the alleged terrorist’s home country consists of a staggering 132 federal grants. U.S. taxpayers have picked up the tab for everything from a “food for peace emergency program” to helping enhance a “native fruit and nut arboretum in South Kyrgyzstan.”