War in Chechnya
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One More Time - a War Against Civilians
One More Time - waiting for the never-in-time-co-ordinated International Community
the same cowardice, the same silence
One More Time - WAITING FOR THE USUAL TOTAL DISASTER?
Copyright © 1999 Chechen Republic and Amina Network
Under Cover in Chechnya: Here, The Terror Ends, Lars-Terje Lysemose ~ 29 Dec 2000
Russian Politician Issues Rare Criticism of Chechen War, AP ~ Dec. 28
Moscow Eyes Political Dialogue in Chechnya, Reuters ~ Dec. 28
New Peace Plan Would End Chechnya Independence Claims, AFP ~ Dec 28
No Talks With Chechen Separatists, Interfax ~ Dec 28
Chechen Rebels Converge on Volgograd, Gazeta ~ Dec. 28th
Nemtsov Says Political Dialogue Possible in Chechnya, Gazeta ~ Dec. 28
Maskhadov Will Only a Accept Unconditional Talks: Aide, AFP ~ Dec. 27
Top Russian General Does not Rule out Talks With Maskhadov, AFP ~ Dec. 27
Russian Moslem Leader Urges Peace Talks in Chechnya, NTV ~ Dec. 27
Chechen Takes Russian Government to Court for Bombing His Home, AFP ~ Dec. 27
Russians For the Independence of Ichkeria, Kavkaz-Tsentr ~ Dec. 27
What Will Happen in Chechnya Next Year? By Ilya Maksakovm ~ December 27
Russia Tightens Security Measures in Chechnya, Interfax ~ Dec 26
Chechen Administration Warns Against Saydullayev, Gazeta ~ Dec. 21
Chechnya in the Eyes of Western Journalists, Glasnost Foundation ~ Dec. 21
Chechnya in Clutches of Quicksand Conflict, By Colin McMahon ~ December 21
Russian Soldiers Kill Civilians in Chechnya, Musda Stoun ~ Dec. 20
Chechnya Gets First Senator in Russian Parliament Since 1997 ~ December 20
5 Chechen Students, Instructor Killed in Grenade Attack, AP ~ Dec. 20
Saidullayev Agrees to Become Chechen Prime Minister, Itar Tass ~ December 20
Helping Children Recover From the World's Worst War, By Patrick Cockburn ~ December 20
Chechnya - A Zone of Irrisponsabilitym, by Ilya Maksakov ~ Dec. 20
Lebed Calls for Chechnya Talks, By Andrew Jack ~ December 19
Russia Says it Killed 15 Chechens, Rebels Defiant, Reuters ~ Dec. 19
Berezovsky Resumes Role in Chechnya, By Andrew Jack in Moscow ~ December 18
The War is Not Over in Chechnya: Pro-Moscow Civilian Chief, AFP ~ Dec. 18
Russia's Sons Come Home From Chechnya, By Margaret Paxson ~ December 17
Murderers Blame the Mujahideen for Their Crimes, By Artur Chantiv ~ Dec. 16
Official Russian Casualties: Juggling with False Figures, Prague Watchdog ~ Dec. 14
Rebel Leader Distances Chechnya From Wave of Georgia Kidnappings, AFP ~ Dec. 13
Love Reaches Over Chechen Battle Lines, By Mark Franchetti ~ Dec. 11
War's New Phase, By Scott Peterson ~ Dec. 11
Alkhan-Yurt Residents Appeal to Russian President, Chechen Administration, Interfax ~ Dec. 10
Russia's Hold on Chechnya is Seen as Tenuous, AP ~ December 10
Moscow Boosts "Anti-Terrorist" Drive as Chechnya Buries Dead, AFP ~ Dec. 10
At Christmas, Just Think For a Second..., By P. Jendroszczyk ~ Nov. 30
Russian Media Prepare the Russian Public for a Withdrawal from Chechnya, Qoqaz Net ~ Dec. 8
Chechen Rebels Step Up Attacks, The Times ~ Dec. 7
Six Dead Including Two Russian Policemen in North Caucasus, AFP ~ Dec. 7
Crime Capital of Georgia Overrun with Chechen Rebels, AFP ~ Dec. 7
Russia Tough on Georgia Over Chechens, West, Reuters ~ Dec. 7
Where's The Money? Daily News Service ~ Dec. 7
Rights Group Slams "Carnage" in Chechnya, Holds Out Hope in Balkans, AFP ~ Dec. 7
Jihad Will Proceed, Kolumbus ~ Dec. 4
Moscow to Deploy 200 Permanent Garrisons Throughout Chechnya, Agence France Presse ~ Dec. 9
Nobody Wants Responsibility for Chechnya, Svetlana Nesterova ~ Dec. 9
Chechnya Car Bomb 'Kills 16', BBC ~ Dec. 9
Water Truck Blows Up In Chechen Police Headquarters, AP ~ Dec. 8
Georgia Rejects Russian Claims Over Chechens, BBC ~ Dec. 8
Gunmen Raid Gantamirov's Home, Dmitri Meponmnyaschy ~ Dec. 8
Declaration, A. Zakayev, Vice Premier of the Government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria ~ Dec. 8
Russia and Chechnya: From One War to Another, Mikhail Sokolov ~ Dec. 4
Kadyrov to Seek Aid for Chechnya in Libya, Iraq, Moscow Times ~ Dec. 5
Under Cover in Chechnya: Here, The Terror Ends
Lars-Terje Lysemose ~ 29 Dec 2000
Posted to: chechnya-sl@egroups.com
Eye Witness
The war has become a part of everyday life in Chechnya, more than a year after Russian troops crossed the border to the rebellious republic. While the generals claim to have reconquered the trackless mountain terrain, ambushes and assassination attempts have become daily events. And the guerrilla warfare does leave a mark on a population living in daily fear and terror.
By Lars-Terje Lysemose, Mozdok, on the Russian border between North Ossetia and Chechnya.
I wake up with a start, bathed in sweat, to the banging sound of rotors ploughing through the night.
The sound has long ago become a part of everyday life to the inhabitants of Mozdok, a small town by the Terek river which the Russians used as their military headquarters during the invasion of Chechnya on 30 September last year.
But the sudden sound of chopping helicopters in the night is certainly not part of an everyday life to a Western journalist who, without the knowing of the authorities, has sneaked into the heart of the Russians' military operation as if I were about to join the Chechen fighters for a free Ichkeria - through one checkpoint after the other, ever crisscrossing through the Caucasian steppe land to avoid being discovered.
Without the required papers and stamps, my presence in Chechnya is to be considered a crime. And with no press officer to escort me around in the war zone, I must blindly rely on my Russian guide Vadim, a good acquaintant in the middle of his twenties, who insists on showing me the Chechen reality such as his parents and siblings experience it at the place where they live.
Fortunately, the helicopters disappear just as quickly as they came. For whereas the sound of helicopters in the air one year ago was a warning of the Russians' enormous offensive into Chechnya with almost 100,000 soldiers, it now merely indicates s a new load of wounded soldiers returning to the overly crowded military hospital of Mozdok.
Here are 400 beds but that's far from enough. And so, the building of a new and bigger military hospital in the town is already well under way.
Canon Feed
More than a year after the invasion, Chechnya is still a bloody battlefield. To date, what authorities persistently label an anti-terror operation has officially cost 2,700 soldiers their lives, wounded more than 7,800 and killed 3,000 rebels. Add to that, the unknown figures of killed and wounded civilians. Moscow talks about 13,000 civilians, whereas the Chechen side claims as many as 45,000 civilians have been killed.
"The war has long ago become a part of everyday life. Nobody cares about the cruelties that continue to happen every day," says Barbara, a middle-aged warmhearted woman I meet the following morning, busy bandaging a wound.
She is Russian and a doctor in Mozdok and only know all too well about the conditions for the wounded at the town's old military hospital. Together with the one in Vladikavkaz this is the only facility the Russian military has for qualified surgeons in the devastated province.
"It is tragic that so many youngsters have to serve as canon feed in that way. Indeed, it is incomprehensible," she sighs and tells me about her own son at 25 who is a fighter pilot in Moscow.
"I pray every day that he won't be sent to the battle field," she confides in me and shows me a photo of a smiling young lad, sitting in a cockpit radiant with pride.
Outside, in the streets of Mozdok, scrutinizing eyes, military trucks and security police fill in the town setting while the inhabitants are trying to get on with their lives despite a number of perpetual military checkpoints.
Most of the time, though, soldiers are only on the lookout for darker skinned Caucasians. In Mozdok that amounts to about half the population. People with a European complexion, though, are just being waved through the checkpoints without even having to flash as much as a passport.
Mafia Boom
The small town on the banks of the roaring Terek river, where North Ossetia meets Chechnya, has experienced an economic boom since the Russians conquered the separatist republic back, thanks to the many soldiers, a number of shady affairs and numerous routes of smuggling through the trackless mountains.
"The banks here have mushroomed like wild sponges after a heavy shower," Vadim says when I ask him about the many impressive marble facades on the main street. "They are all owned by mafia," he says with a smile.
With 15 kidnapings in Mozdok just recently, I don't need any requests for keeping a low profile. Arms, kidnapings and drugs have become common commodities in these quarters. The main street of Kirov, for instance, is openly being frequented by a couple of undisguised mafia types with tiny bags in their inside pockets whose content is white as snow. Nor is there any lack of willing girls from Korea who speak excellent Russian and cost next to nothing at the local soldiers' hotel.
One week in the field and one week back at the base in Mozdok. That is how a war, costing the army a monthly 88 million US dollars/200 million D-mark, becomes a routine. And with wages of up to 70 dollars/160 D-mark in daily war allowances, the officers in this town have more than enough for booze, sex and drugs.
That is a princely amount of money in Russia. With only some 4.6 billion dollars/10.4 billion D-mark on the military budget for the incumbent year to cover salaries to 1.2 million soldiers, maintain an enormous fleet and at the same time pay for a nuclear arsenal of super power dimensions, these officers clearly belong to the absolutely best paid in all of Russia. Their salaries are in sharp contrast to the conscripts who will have to be content with a meagre 45 dollars/100 D-mark - a month.
The Burnt Fields
My Russian driver Vasily, a middle-aged round man with a firm handshake, is making a fortune driving his taxi, quite often even at night, for diplomats, journalists and Chechens alike - up to 3,000 dollars/6750 D-mark for a return trip out of Chechnya's dusty back roads.
He insists on driving free of charge, though, since I am a friend of a friend, as he says. Besides knowing every dirt road, he also knows how to slip a white lie, like when we were being waved over to make a stop on the road between Mineralnye Vodyy and Mozdok at one of several checkpoints and my guide Vadim suddenly becomes my Russian brother - or at least, that is what Vasily with a pounding heart makes the soldiers believe.
"Caucasus has always been and will always be a powder keg," he claims while our car, a white Volga with a taxi sign on the top, rushes through the quarters of the newly rich who, behind shuttered windows and iron fences, are making lucrative deals on the war and seem busy building new houses. Black money is quickly converted into something of lasting value, thus the sudden boom in building houses and the many new cars.
The district of the newly rich, with black Mercedeses in the drive ways, are quickly replaced by the hutment villages on the other side of the Terek river, where refugees from the turbulences in both Chechnya and the province of Abkhazia in neighbouring Georgia have found a refuge.
After the barracks a naked open No Man's Land follows, marred by the war's burnt fields and fried stumps of tree where there used to be glades. A couple of burnt-out railway wagons stand there as empty shells and a reminder of how occupying the republic and at the same time subduing the Chechens after dark are two things quite apart.
In Sniper Land
The Volga accelerates as we head out for the village of Znamenskaya on the road towards Groznyy in what locals have dubbed a snipers' paradise because the open plains at the edge of the magnificent mountains covered with foliage are often used as hiding places for Chechen ambushes.
An old red bus, chugging out on the road towards Groznyy, is full to the point of breaking with head scarfed Chechen women.
The women are the only Chechens who venture to cross the Terek. Even 12-year-old boys and old men are being apprehended at the Russian checkpoints under pretexts of being guerrillas and are being sent to the dreaded infiltration camps where reports of torture, murder and rape are well-known. Usually, the women will have to pay ransoms to have their men released.
After a thirty minutes' drive we reach the first checkpoint on this side of the river, surrounded by barbed wire and some 50 soldiers. A big sign painted with the colours of the Russian flag announces that we are now entering the Chechen republic. A long row of black Mercedeses with tinted windows, military trucks and a couple of buses, filled with Chechen women, are waiting in line. Vadim and Vasily are obviously nervous. They risk their lives whereas I myself will probably only face an expulsion out of the country if caught.
"Give me your passport," Vasily says as a couple of soldiers signal to him to hold over and he stops the car. Vadim and I remain in the car while Vasily walks the 150 meters to the checkpoint and disappears behind a door to a small office.
Meanwhile, the soldiers open the trunk and examine the car, on the lookout for anything suspicious. The minutes count and it feels like eternity before Vasily gets back.
"Let's get out of here," he laughs nervously.
"Welcome to Chechnya," he adds as we pass the barbed wire, the sign and the Russian soldiers.
Russian Efficiency
Vasily puts his foot right down on the accelerator as we drive out on the ruler-straight road towards Groznyy, the Chechen capital that once had almost half a million citizens. Now, the city has been completely demolished to gravel and some 300,000 civilians have been driven to flee out of Chechnya.
I ask Vasily what the soldiers said to my passport.
"Nothing," he laughs. "I hid your passport in my inside pocket and only gave them Vadim's and my own." We laugh relieved, well aware of the fact that there are only a couple of kilometers to the next checkpoint.
Here, the same sequence is repeated: Vasily steps out of the car with three passports in his hand so that the soldiers surrounding the car don't suspect a thing, and then puts one of them back in his pocket as he enters the little office where the passports are being cross examined with a computer listing all those who are being suspected for aiding the guerrillas. Nobody notices that a third person is sitting at the back seat of the car. So much for Russian efficiency.
Fled Out of Groznyy
After about a two hours' drive, we finally reach the village of Znamenskaya where Vasily has a couple of good acquaintants he thinks I should meet.
Adam and Maka are a middle-aged married couple, Chechen Muslims who fled out of Groznyy during the Russian bombardments last year. Now, they are stuck here at the road in a self-made house of about 20 square meters, because their eldest son at 16 lost his papers of identification in the chaos that followed the Russians' invasion. And with no papers to identify him, they don't dare to try to manage to get through the Russian checkpoints.
"We lost everything in Groznyy," Maka explains. "What you see in this shed is everything we have." There is anger and scorn in her voice but also a certain coming to terms with the way things are.
The small family of four is living in daily fear of their eldest son being nabbed and taken to one of the Russian infiltration camps. Most of the time, they try to keep him hidden inside. Otherwise, they live like the rest of the village, by selling mineral water and fruit and vegetables to the few who make a halt in the village on the road towards Groznyy. Once a week, Maka takes the bus to the market in Mozdok to buy groceries. Their nearest relatives live in Abkhazia on the other side of the closed border to Georgia, so from that side there is no help to fetch.
The situation for this family is not unique. Approximately some 150,000 people continue to live like Adam, Maka and their two boys in tent camps or temporary places whereas some other 170,000 have fled to the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia.
Russia has earmarked some 265 million dollars/ 597 million D-mark for the restoration of Chechnya but there is not much restoration to spot in Znamenskaya where sheds and houses with bullet holes in their walls are the only buildings in a landscape where the war has left its obvious trails.
A Nightly Encounter
Darkness has descended upon the landscape as the white Volga heads back towards Mozdok. On the road, we make a stop in the village of Terskaya where Vadim asks for an old school mate he hasn't seen for several years.
We meet Aslan, a 27-year-old Chechen, at the memorial of World War II, where the youngsters of the village meet every night over a couple of bottles of cheap vodka next to the eternal flame. Aslan is a qualified lawyer but apparently there is no need for the likes of him in today's Chechnya. Instead, he drives a truck for a company in Mozdok. He frankly tells us about the war and the mafia groups he believes are responsible for its outbreak.
"This war is not about fanatic Muslims. It is a war that has been set off, only because a number of mafia groups have the intent to make war," he explains.
"My brother Adlan at 22 joined the rebels this past spring," Aslan says. "He was kindled by the rhetoric of a free Ichkeria, of an independent Chechenistan. But he was caught in a web of treachery and crime. It's the mafia who is calling the shots, neither Putin or Maskhadov." (the Chechen president democratically elected by the people - editor's comment).
"One day, my brother kidnapped a wealthy Armenian from Mozdok, the police was chasing him and almost caught him but he managed to find a hiding place out in the mountains. That was the last we heard of him. Rumours circled that he had been killed but I didn't believe that until three months ago when some strangers came to my house and showed me a video recording of his corpse - his head had been parted from his body and he had been made almost unrecognizable."
"They told me he had encountered a group of soldiers out in a forest and that the soldiers had made it a quick death. But there is something that doesn't tally with that explanation. Why would the Russians behead him? The Russians don't do that kind of thing. It's only Chechens who disgrace corpses like that."
Indomitable Youth
Silence has set in while Aslan has been speaking. But now, he is interrupted by a tall slender young guy.
"The Russians are no worse or better than us," he exclaims, triggering a hefty discussion among the group of seven. The young lad's name is Timur, he is a Chechen, lives in Groznyy but is currently visiting friends in Terskaya.
"I'm studying philology at the university," he says when I ask him what on earth he is doing in Groznyy.
"My studies had originally been estimated to five years but because of the war it has become six," he says and adds that the university in Groznyy reopened in September and currently has some 900 students.
I ask him if he sees a future in Chechnya.
"Sure," he says. "We Chechens are indomitable. When I finish next year, I want to become a journalist and work for Ichkeria." (the independent Chechen republic - editorial comment)
It gets late before the vodka bottles have been emptied and we make our parting with the youngsters in Terskaya.
Early the next morning, Vadim and I set out on the journey back out of the Caucasus. It's a four hours' drive of crisscrossing through tortuous dirt roads, passing gypsies' horse driven wagons and tent camps, before we reach the resort town of Mineralnye Vodyy at the bottom of the mountains.
As the train sets off, and we leave Mineralnye Vodyy behind, Vadim opens his first beer and puts up a big smile.
"Here, the terror ends. Congratulations. Mission accomplished," he laughs and takes the first pull.
I look out the window, at the snow covered mountains in the horizon, the hills and the graveyards that roll past us, and nod, relieved that Chechnya is behind us.
Lars-Terje Lysemose is a 25 year-old freelance journalist.
END
Russian Politician Issues Rare Criticism of Chechen War
AP ~ Dec. 28
MOSCOW, Dec. 28: In rare criticism within Russia of President Vladimir Putin's policies in Chechnya, a leading liberal politician on Thursday said Russia's army in the region is falling apart as a fighting force, and afflicted by alcoholism and drug addiction Boris Nemtsov, head of the Union of Right Forces faction in parliament, said Russia should end the war by opening negotiations with Chechen guerrilla leaders.
The comments came after Nemtsov met with a rebel envoy in the southern Russian city of Nazran on Saturday in what some saw as a back door contact for Russia's government with the rebel forces.
Nemtsov said he later met with Putin and the Russian president approved his efforts to engage the rebels in dialogue.
Nemtsov's claim contradicted a television interview with Putin this week in which the Russian leader asserted that the war will go on until all militants in Chechnya are killed or surrender. He did not mention any problems in Russia's forces.
But Nemtsov said the army in Chechnya is deteriorating. ''When troops stand still, they are getting increasingly demoralized,'' he said. ''They are plagued by alcoholism, drug-addiction, prostitution and looting.''
Military prosecutors have opened 748 cases involving crimes committed by servicemen in Chechnya and neighboring Caucasus regions since fighting began in August 1999, Russian news agencies reported the Kremlin's spokesman for Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, as saying Thursday. The crimes include murder and illegal arms dealing, the reports said.
Foreign governments and human rights groups have said Russia's ground troops are too blunt an instrument to solve Chechnya's complex problems. But few Russian politicians have criticized the war, which remains popular with most Russians despite mounting casualties.
Six Russian soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in ambushes and mine explosions in the past 24 hours in the province, an official in Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration said on condition of anonymity. In the Shali district in the mountainous southeast, rebels attacked a column of Russian armored cars, wounding six soldiers and destroying one vehicle, the official said. In the capital Grozny, an armored personnel carrier struck a mine, killing two soldiers and wounding seven others, the official said.
Chechnya won de facto independence after guerrillas defeated Russian forces in 1996. But Russian troops moved back into the region last year after militants staged cross-border raids on villages in the neighboring Russian region of Dagestan and after Russian cities were hit with terrorist bombings the government blames on the Chechens.
(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
END
Moscow Eyes Political Dialogue in Chechnya
Reuters ~ Dec. 28, 2000
More than a year after sending troops into Chechnya with a vow to stamp out separatist rebels, Moscow is cautiously eyeing a political solution to the conflict, a leading parliamentarian said on Thursday.
Boris Nemtsov, who held talks with representatives of the Chechen rebel leadership last weekend, said he had informed President Vladimir Putin in advance about his contacts and later briefed the Kremlin leader on their results.
"I doubt the president would have allowed these meetings if he did not realize the importance of political dialogue," Nemtsov, head of the liberal Union of Rightwing Forces party (SPS) in parliament, told a news conference.
He described Putin's reaction to his report as "good".
Putin himself said in an interview last week that there was nothing wrong with Nemtsov's discussions, cutting short hostile comments by some Kremlin officials, one of whom called the parliamentarian's move a "stab in the back".
Russian generals have also said on many occasions that any contacts with the rebels were out of the question unless the aim was to negotiate conditions for the rebels' surrender.
In Chechnya, Russia said its helicopter gunships carried out more raids against rebel positions on Thursday, destroying four bases and an ammunition-loaded truck, Interfax news agency said.
The raids followed an upsurge in fighting over the last week, in which Russia said several of its servicemen had been killed and dozens wounded. Russia has also said it had killed dozens of rebels in response, although both sides regularly exaggerate enemy casualties.
Putin's hard attitude to the rebels was popular in Russia, and Moscow's troops reported initial successes, seizing most of Chechnya's territory in a matter of months.
But they have since failed to bring peace to the region or capture the main rebel leaders, and critics say the low-intensity conflict now looks a replay of a 1994-96 campaign which led to Russia's withdrawal from the region.
Troops Forced To Wage A Low-Intensity War
Rebel groups have killed hundreds of Russian troops over recent months in bomb and hit-and-run attacks, and also assassinated pro-Moscow Chechen officials. Russia says it is nearly impossible to distinguish rebels from peaceful civilians.
Nearly 150,000 Chechen refugees who fled the Russian onslaught live in miserable conditions in neighboring Ingushetia, some of them in tented camps. Moscow had said it hoped they would return home once heavy fighting subsided.
In an attempt to turn the tables in the seemingly endless cat-and-mouse confrontation, the military has said it would pull its troops out of the relative safety of army bases and deploy them in small contingents across the region. Putin has said the move, certain to expose troops to greater danger, would have to be thoroughly thought out first.
Nemtsov said Moscow's troubles in the region were made worse by a lack of coherent policy from the Kremlin, which had as many as seven different officials responsible for Chechnya. He said his trip had revealed that the soldiers were indulging in looting, heavy drinking and drugs. "We are bogged down in Chechnya and we are bogged down for a long time," he said.
(C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited.
END
New Peace Plan Would End Chechnya Independence Claims
AFP, Moscow ~ Dec 28
The head of a Russian delegation which held key talks with rebel leaders of Chechnya presented a peace plan on Thursday under which the rebel republic would give up claims to independence.
If the scheme failed, it would be necessary to partition Chechnya, linking loyal northern territories with a neighbouring Russian region and isolating rebel territory, former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov said.
Nemtsov, a leading liberal in parliament here, told journalists he had presented the five-point plan to President Vladimir Putin.
It includes negotiations to end the present 15 month-old conflict, aid to refugees, renunciation by the Chechens of the right to independence, and a change in status abolishing the rank and title of president of Chechnya.
The current president, Aslan Maskhadov, is not recognised by Moscow.
"President Putin's reaction was generally positive," Nemtsov said.
Nemtsov, head of the liberal Union of Rightist Forces (SPS) in parliament, also proposed creating the post of governor-general of the southern republic. This figure would be concerned with security and civil affairs and finances, Nemtsov told a press conference.
Current responsibility for security in war-torn Chechnya is shared between about a dozen top officials.
Nemtsov this month led a Russian delegation which signed a five-point declaration with Chechen separatists at a meeting in neighbouring Ingushetia.
The Kremlin spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, distanced the government from that meeting, saying it had taken place without the knowledge or approval of the Putin administration.
But Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper claimed Tuesday that Putin had in fact given it his backing.
Nemtsov told journalists on Thursday: "The president was informed in advance of our talks. He would not have accepted such a meeting if he had not been aware of the need for political dialogue."
Nemtsov said implementation of his five-point proposals would take three to five years.
"If it fails, it will be necessary to partition Chechnya, linking loyal territories in the north with (the neighbouring Russian regional of) Stavropol and isolating rebel territory," he proposed.
Northern Chechnya, whose population is of Cossack origin, has traditionally been more loyal to Moscow than the rest of the ethnic minority republic where Islam is the main religion.
Chechnya, in a strategically key mountain area of southern Russia had a population of some 1.2 million people before the 1994-96 war, including more than 400,000 ethnic Russians.
Russia relinquished control over the republic in 1996 after its failed military intervention launched in December 1994 against a Chechen independence campaign.
Under the previous agreement with Moscow, the separatists were left to run the republic while officially postponing a decision on independence until 2001.
In August 1999, Islamic militants in neighbouring Dagestan launched a rebellion spearheaded by guerrillas from Chechnya.
Russian troops re-entered Chechnya in October and Putin ruled out a compromise with what he called Chechen "terrorists."
END
No Talks With Chechen Separatists
Interfax ~ Dec 28, 2000 -- (BBC Monitoring)
Gudermes, 28 December: The Russian authorities do not intend to hold official negotiations with representatives of the Chechen separatists and bandit formations, deputy presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District Lt-Gen Vladimir Bokovikov told Interfax on Thursday [28 December].
No official negotiations between politicians representing the federal center and any representatives of the Ichkerian (Chechen) regime or guerrillas will take place, for "this is pointless and illegal", Bokovikov noted.
The envoy so commented on the opinions of certain politicians on possible negotiations with separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov and the recent meeting between right-wing Duma deputies and members of the Chechen parliament elected in 1997.
"The president's position is that negotiations are impossible," Bokovikov recalled.
Furthermore, "these politicians (with whom the right-wing Duma deputies met) do not represent anybody but themselves and the interests of small groups, and as for Maskhadov, he does not enjoy any influence at all", the envoy said.
Therefore, "it is pointless to enter negotiations", Bokovikov said. "The federal center must complete on its own what it started, that is, to end bloodshed and restore peaceful life in the republic," the general said.
Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 0816 GMT 28 Dec 00
(C) 2000 BBC Monitoring
END
Chechen Rebels Converge on Volgograd
Gazeta ~ Dec. 28th
On December 27, law enforcers in the Volgograd Region, Southern Russia, detained more Chechen rebels who, reportedly, belong to the notorious warlord Arbi Barayev's force. The suspects are said to have arrived in the region in order to carry out terrorist acts.
On December 24th twenty-four suspected Chechen rebels were arrested and on the 25th and 26th three more "bandits" were detained in the Volgograd region.
The operation to foil the terrorists' plans involved all the regional law enforcement agencies: the Prosecutor's Office, Federal Security Service (FSB) department, Interior Ministry's chief department and the regional department for organized crime.
None of the agencies involved provided any detailed account of the operation and reported Press only gave the numbers of arrested suspects.
It has been revealed that all the men had been instructed to penetrate into the Volgograd Region, blend with local residents of Chechen nationality, who have long since been settled in the region, and plant bombs and kidnap people.
Investigators are now questioning the detainees. Two of them are suspected of planting a bomb in May in the vicinity of 11th garrison. Two soldiers were killed and fifteen injured in the explosion.
A spokesman for the Volgograd FSB dept Igor Kouznetsov said on Wednesday that in the regional law enforcement agencies would hold a news conference where they would show a video recording of the questioning.
According to unofficial sources, all law enforcement units in the region are now on full alert.
They fear that not all rebels that came to Volgograd have been arrested. Some may still be at large and may even attempt to free their detained comrades. Some sources assume that the rebels had been under FSB's surveillance from the moment the group left Chechnya. The rebels were left to travel to Volgograd, whereupon law enforcers waited until the arrivals got in touch with local criminals. Only then were the rebels arrested.
The local law enforcers apparently did not plan to arrest so many rebels all at once. At first they hoped to keep the arrivals and local mafia under close surveillance, to get to know their ways, to learn more about local criminals.
But, suddenly, on December 24th, the day of the regional governor elections, police learned of the rebels' plans to plant explosive devices in crowded districts and near the polling stations. The law enforces had to change their tactics and arrest all the suspects in order to prevent a tragedy.
Unsurprisingly the leaders of the Chechen community in Volgograd were perturbed by the rebels' arrival. The majority of Chechen nationals in Volgograd have long since settled in the region and started their own businesses and are unhappy about being in the police's attentions.
Reportedly, some local Chechens left the city, frightened that they would also be detained.
However, they have not made any public statement.
A leading figure of Volgograd's Chechen community Vakhit Shamayev is avoiding communication with the press. When the first suspects were detained, Shamayev said that some of them were his friends and that they supported the federal authorities, not the separatists.
Later he switched off his phone and is refusing to talk to anybody.
28 dekabra 19:08
END
Nemtsov Says Political Dialogue Possible in Chechnya
Gazeta ~ Dec. 28 (from Nemtsov's web site)
More than a year after sending troops into Chechnya with a vow to stamp out separatist rebels, Moscow is cautiously eyeing a political solution to the conflict, the leader of the Union of Righwing Forces, Boris Nemtsov said on Thursday.
Boris Nemtsov, who held talks with representatives of the Chechen rebel leadership last weekend, said he had informed President Vladimir Putin in advance about his contacts and later briefed the Kremlin leader on their results.
"I doubt the president would have allowed these meetings if he did not realise the importance of political dialogue," Nemtsov, head of the liberal Union of Rightwing Forces party (SPS) in parliament, told a news conference.
He described Putin's reaction to his report as "good".
Putin himself said in an interview last week that there was nothing wrong with Nemtsov's discussions, cutting short hostile comments by some Kremlin officials, one of whom called the parliamentarian's move a "stab in the back".
Russian generals have also said on many occasions that any contacts with the rebels were out of the question unless the aim was to negotiate conditions for the rebels' surrender.
Nemtsov said Moscow's troubles in the region were made worse by a lack of coherent policy from the Kremlin, which had as many as seven different officials responsible for Chechnya. He said his trip had revealed that the soldiers were indulging in looting, heavy drinking and drugs. "We are bogged down in Chechnya and we are bogged down for a long time," he said.
END
Maskhadov Will Only a Accept Unconditional Talks: Aide
(AFP) ~ Dec. 27
Chechen rebel president Aslan Maskhadov will only enter peace negotiations with Moscow if they are unconditional, one of his close aides told AFP on Wednesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin's representative in the Caucasus region, General Viktor Kazantsev, said in an interview published Wednesday that Moscow would only deal with Maskhadov if he publicly apologized for his actions. "Maskhadov is the president of an independent state and it is inconceivable to impose such conditions on him," Said-Hassan Abumuslimov told an AFP reporter in Nazran, in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia, by telephone. "I hope Kazantsev will advise the president to begin talks with Maskhadov on an equal footing without prior conditions," the aide added. But Abumuslimov said it would be hard for Putin to negotiate, as "it is the war that brought him to power."
Russian troops poured into the secessionist southern territory on October 1, 1999, in a self-declared bid to wipe out "terrorists" blamed for a series of bomb blasts in Russia which killed 292 people the previous month.Two people, including a Russian intelligence (FSB) agent, have been killed in Chechnya in the past 24 hours, news agencies reported Wednesday citing Russian military sources. The FSB agent was killed and two other agents wounded late Tuesday when their vehicle hit a mine in eastern Chechnya, interior ministry sources said. One civilian was killed and seven wounded Tuesday in separate incidents involving mines, the Russian army command said, without giving further details about how or where the incidents occurred.
Russian troops have dismantled some 40 mines in the past 24 hours in Chechnya, the army command added. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Maskhadov addressed a message to Muslim Chechens to mark the end of the Ramadan fasting month, his office told AFP. "Today, the Chechen people, hostages of a bloody war, celebrate this holiday in conditions of humanitarian catastrophe," Maskhadov said, according to a text of his message on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr. "Hundreds of thousands of people are without shelter, tens of other thousands have been killed, more than 100,000 people have been wounded and 20,000 disappeared," the rebel Chechen president added. "Still we are not defeated but determined to be victorious," concluded Maskhadov, whose legitimacy has not been recognised by Moscow since the start of the Russian crackdown in Chechnya in 1999.
END
Top Russian General Does not Rule out Talks With Maskhadov
AFP ~ Dec. 27
General Viktor Kazantsev, top Russian official in charge of Russia's volatile Caucasus region, said Wednesday that talks with Chechnya's rebel president Aslan Maskhadov are not ruled out. "Maybe we will have to negotiate with Maskhadov," Kazantsev, who is Russian President Vladimir Putin's representative in the Caucasus, said in an interview with Vek weekly. However, Kazantsev added that the talks "may occur only after he publicly acknowledges all he has done and makes an appropriate statement."
This shift in the tough-spoken general's unyielding stance comes shortly after Putin himself allowed for such a possibility in a televised interview on Monday. Moreover, a leading Russian liberal politician Boris Nemtsov briefed Putin late Tuesday about the results of his recent negotiations with Chechen rebels, later telling the media that the president's response was "normal". This is a marked change from Moscow's previously staunch refusal to hold any talks with Chechen leaders and even recognize Maskhadov's legitimacy as president. Still, Kazantsev did not conceal his reluctance to trust the Chechen separatist chief, whom Moscow accuses of supporting terrorists and harboring criminals. "I don't want to talk with Maskhadov, simply because we did have long negotiations two years ago and last year, too, and he did not want to listen. The result of that was deplorable," Kazantsev said. Russian forces are still subject to daily rebel attacks more than 14 months after Moscow launched a military crackdown in Chechnya on October 1, 1999.
END
Russian Moslem Leader Urges Peace Talks in Chechnya
NTV, ~ Dec. 27
[Presenter] Today is one of the main Moslem holidays, Uraza-Bayram. [omitted: known facts] The head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, sheykh Ravil Gaynutdin, is live on air. Good morning, esteemed sheykh Ravil.
[Gaynutdin, speaking from the NTV studio in Vypolzov Pereulok in Moscow] Good morning. Salam aleikum [peace be on you].
[Q] Esteemed sheykh, in the recent time people both in the West and here quite often speak about the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism. Does it really threaten Russia, and what is the general situation with the development of Islam in this country?
[A] Islam is not a new religion for the Russian Federation. More than 30 nationalities living in Russia are Moslems. For many centuries Russian Moslems were Sunnis. Thank God, the Moslem clergy in Russia is developing traditional Islam. We can responsibly say that Moslems and Islam pose no threat to our country and the world peace.
[Q] Esteemed sheykh, the situation in the North Caucasus remains very complicated. Can the Council of Muftis of Russia help to bring peace to the North Caucasus, I mean, to Chechnya?
[A] The Council of Muftis of Russia always stood side by side with the Chechen people. We have always been concerned about what was happening in the North Caucasus and about the continuing tragedy in the Chechen Republic. We always supported the efforts by the Moslem clergy of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. We always supported the muftis of Chechnya, Albagachi Alsabekov, and [his successor] esteemed sheykh Akhmad Kadyrov. Now we are working in close contact with Chechen mufti sheykh Akhmad Shamayev.
The Moslem clergy of Russia and the heads of the regional Spiritual Administrations are rendering humanitarian aid to Chechen refugees. In 2000 the Council of Muftis of Russia provided to Chechens the aid worth several hundreds thousand dollars. We see the following way out from the current situation. Undoubtedly, the conflict cannot be solved by military means. Efforts are needed to promote peace settlement of the Chechen conflict. We hope that our politicians and the leaders of this country will find an opportunity to pass to a peaceful solution of the conflict in the territory of the Chechen Republic and start negotiations with those who now possess real power in the territory of the Chechen Republic.
[Q] Esteemed sheykh, did you, as the head of the Council of Muftis, propose to the federal authorities, the secular authorities, your mediation in talks with the real force you have mentioned? Whom do you mean by "real force" in Chechnya?
[A] Yes, definitely. After the war in Chechnya began I met the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Interior Minister Vladimir Borisovich Rushaylo and the chief of General Staff [of the Russian armed forces Anatoliy] Kvashnin. We offered the opportunities we had and expressed our readiness to participate in peace talks and act as intermediaries. We also suggest that the presidents of several Moslem Republics of the Russian Federation should be actively involved in peace process and negotiations with real forces that exist in Chechnya now.
[Q] Did they support your proposals?
[A] In general, they were accepted and we continued consultations on this issue but, unfortunately, we have failed to achieve a peaceful solution of the conflict so far.
[Presenter] Thank you very much.[broadcast at 0835 GMT] Source: NTV, Moscow, in Russian 0530 GMT 27 Dec 00
END
Chechen Takes Russian Government to Court for Bombing His Home
(Agence France Presse) ~ Dec. 27
A Chechen lawyer whose house was destroyed during the war in the breakaway republic is taking the Russia government to court in the first legal action of its kind since the conflict began. Abdullah Khamzayev, 62, said on Tuesday that he wants the government to pay damages and costs caused by the airforce when it bombed his home in the town of Urus-Martan on October 19, 1999. Six people were killed when aircraft bombed the residential area, Khamzayev said. Initially, he complained to the army chief of staff who said in a letter, which AFP obtained, there was no bombardment on that date and that only rebel bases were being targeted.
After an inquiry, a Chechen court found that two Russian aircraft did bomb Urus-Martan without authorization, but no action was ever taken. "I have dedicated 40 years of my life to reinforcing Russian justice, and the fact that they don't answer my calls, and violate the laws and the constitution of the country, is a profound insult," said Khamzayev, who worked in the Russian courts. "I could plead for my compatriots but they are scared of reprisals from the Russian forces," he added.
END
Russians For the Independence of Ichkeria
Kavkaz-Tsentr ~ Dec. 27
In Russian there is organized and actively acts "Russian movement for the independence of Chechnya." The activists of this remarkable, in the conditions of contemporary Russia, organization do not hide their purposes. They openly call to recognize the independence of Ichkeria and refuse from the criminal and perspectiveless militry adventure.
The Appeal by the Russian Movement for the Independence of Chechnya to the Citizens of Russia Compatriots! We have been not able to stop the monstrous war. Our guilt to the Chechen people, our unwillingness to be hostages of Russian state require immediate action.
Taking into account - that the Chechen Republic was arbitrarily included into the list of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the text of the Constitution of RF, as the Republic was not signing the federation treaty and did not accept the Russian constitution on the referendum,
- that the large scale and long term war with the lawfully elected government of Chechnya itself does not mean anything else as a recognition of the state independence of the Chechnen Republic of Ichkeria,
- that this war is not possible without the support by the Chechen people of its lawful government and its army,
- that the people of Chechnya is put on the edge of extinction, tens of thousands of Chechens are killed, hundreds of thousands are left without shelter and the means of existence,
- that for the performing the criminal political course directed toward the total extermination of the Chechen people the President and the Government of RF a due to be punished according to the International Law,
- that the threat increases every day for Russia to turn into an openly terroristic and axpansionist country/state ("derzhava") which is hostile to its own and to neighbouring nations
- that the collective guilt for the annihilation of the Chechen Resistance would allow the Moscow regime to "connect by the shared/coommon blood(-shed)" with it the governments of the world's leading countries and would be a guarantee of the further impunity of Moscow, we are declaring our determination to:
- organize the collection of signatures for the recognition of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as a subject of the International Law,
- to appeal to the internaitonal organization with the request of a fastest recognition of ChRI,
- assist to the breakdown of the informational blockade created by the Russian regime,
- start a large scale human right campaign for the saving of the POWs of the Chechen Resistance and to demand the punishment according to the international law of all those responsible in killings of Chechen POWs,
- strive for finishing the prosecution of the participants of the Chechen Resistance by the Prosecutor General's office,
- demand that the compensation to Chechnya for the lawless war by Russia would be conducted according to the international law and under the strict international control, We appeal to all citizens of Russia to recognize their responsibility in the face of their own and the Chechen people and take part on our activity.
The Movement is open to all citizens and public organizations of Russin which share the principle and the program of actions in the present Appeal. signatures:
Evstifeeva Lyudmila Igorevna, Moscow 264-9750
Lyuzakov Pavel Borisovich, Moskow 488-5813
Minachev Evgenij Minachevich Moscow 138-8065
Alekseevskij Kirill Michailovich, Moscow 921-3609
Vasilkova Margarita Alekseevna, M. 263-2140
Evreinova Elena Vladimirovna, M. 229-9488
Tenenbaum Michail Matveevich, Smolensk oblast,
Ugranskij region, village Ivankovo
Terentjev Aleksandr Mihajlovich, M. 927-0560
Frumkin Evgenij Vladimirovich, M. 157-4133
Shiyabetdinov Shamil Syamiullovich M. 908-4933
Raskina Lyubov Vladimirovna M. 465-9768
Fridman Alla Grigor'evna M. 978 4423
Allamova Muslima 394-6119
Drozdova Anastasiya M 150 4573
Edelev Gleb, Ekaterinburg (3432)51-6830
Stomahin Boris M. 406-3741
Derevyankin Andrej M. 924 6601
Kozyrev Igor M. 516-6490
Najdenovich Adel M. 268-8213
Podrabinek Pinhos Abramovich M 305-6196
Televnaya Nataliya Maksimovna M. 598-0407
END
What Will Happen in Chechnya Next Year?
By Ilya Maksakovm, Nezavisimaya Gazeta ~ December 27
In fact, there were few novel elements in "the Chechen part" of Vladimir Putin's interview to ORT, RTR and this newspaper. The president said again that Chechnya had become a territory "occupied by bandit groups and religious extremists" in the years of its "independence," a territory that "was used as the bridgehead for attacks at our country and for rocking it from the inside." It was not the first time that Putin said that "to withdraw, to leave everything again would be an unforgivable mistake" and that we "should bring the operation to a conclusion from the military viewpoint."
Speaking about the latest Moscow decisions, in particular the appointment of a minister for the social and economic problems of Chechnya, the president stated that "the spotlight will now be on social rehabilitation and economic recovery." On the other hand, Putin could allow himself to repeat things that he had said many times before when summing up the results of the year, which was the most important year in his life. The new elements were the president's words to the effect that "there will be only one centre of power" in Chechnya - "Akhmad Kadyrov." But Putin should know that his decree made Kadyrov not the centre, but an outlying region of power. Kadyrov himself is repeating this whenever he can, demanding broader powers. He understands that he is not a centre of power because he does not control the power departments. Kadyrov does not even hint that he should be given control of the army and the militia; instead, he wants only economic and political independence.
On the other hand, Putin most probably had a good reason to speak about "the centre of power." He is bound to know about plans for reforming the management of Chechnya, which are circulating among his supporters and the leading political forces of the country. By the way, these plans are being translated into life by means of draft presidential decrees. Some of them provide for the introduction of the post of governor general, who would be a vice-premier or the plenipotentiary envoy of the president with broad powers. Others stipulate the broadening of powers of the current Chechen administration and the creation of a Chechen government.
It appears that the letter would not result in the centralisation of power. On the other hand, Vladimir Putin did not snub the advocates of yet another variant, saying that Kadyrov would "fulfil his duties until we go over to other methods of resolving political problems of this kind." The president met with journalists the next day after a group of Duma deputies, led by Boris Nemtsov, met with representatives of Aslan Maskhadov in Ingushetia. It was clear that the president was not as categorical in his evaluation of such contacts as his assistant, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, who said yesterday that contacts with the other side should not take place behind the back of the command of the Joint Group of Forces and the Kadyrov administration.
But Putin pointed out that political contacts were not harmful and did not do considerable damage to the morale of the troops, because "the final say belongs to the president." He also said that if somebody wants to talk with Maskhadov, "we will not interfere; but I do not think that this will be a fruitful way." To preclude misunderstanding, the president reminded journalists that "everyone who has weapons should be brought to trial." Consequently, the interview of Vladimir Putin left the impression of impending political changes. If we are wrong, this means that the president disregarded the recommendations of his own team and the growing social dissatisfaction with the drawing out of the Chechen conflict. Putin's words can be also interpreted to mean that any power in Chechnya would be able to independently tackle many political problems, but it would also be held responsible for its actions.
No wonder that Kadyrov's envoy, Shamil Beno, called for appointing a special federal representative to Chechnya, who would supervise, among other things, the operation of the power departments. It was the first time that this Chechen administration voiced such an idea. Besides, Beno supported the idea of talks with representatives of the side that is fighting the federal authorities, but only those who, like Ruslan Gelayev, have the authority to make decisions.
END
Russia Tightens Security Measures in Chechnya
Interfax ~ Dec 26
The Russian military governor of Chechnya said on Tuesday that he has ordered tighter security measures for the region during the coming New Year's celebrations. "Yesterday, the heads of the district administrations of the republic and district military governors had a conference in Gudermes at which measures were worked out to ensure the security of citizens during the new year holidays," Ivan Babichev has told Interfax.
He said the measures include curfews, beefed-up street patrols and checkpoints and steps to reveal "possible bandit emissaries." However, "roads have not been blocked off," nor have there been any orders to that effect, in as much as "doing this during the Uraza Bairam holiday [end of the holy month of Ramadan], which is sacred to every Muslim, when hundreds of people visit their relatives, is utterly disrespectful and inhuman," Babichev said. He also dismissed reports that large numbers of rebels have moved from the mountains onto the plains of the region and that about 1,000 rebels have entered the Chechen capital Grozny. "We've got no bandits walking around freely," Babichev said, noting that he has no evidence of any "increase in the number of rebels in the towns." Reported threats of bombings during the New Year's celebration are "more likely so much propaganda than real possibility," Babichev said.
END
Chechen Administration Warns Against Saydullayev
Gazeta.ru ~ Dec. 21
On Tuesday Russian news agencies reported that a full-fledged government is to be formed in Chechnya and that the head of Chechen civil administration Akmad Kadyrov has invited the chairman of the self-proclaimed state council Malik Saydullayev to become PM. Kadyrov however has denied the reports. A source in Kadyrov's administration of Chechnya told ITAR-TAS Tuesday that Malik Saydullayev has agreed to become prime minister of the newly formed government. Saydullayev later confirmed the report. "We have agreed with Kadyrov to work together," he told ITAR-TASS. Akhmad Kadyrov's office was very surprised to learn that their boss had invited the prominent businessman, the head of the Milan Concern, the company that runs the Russian Lottery, Malik Saydullayev, to become Chechnya's PM.
In an interview published in Wednesday's edition of Kommersant Daily, Kadyrov denied that he had approached Malik Saydullayev with such offer, and what is more, Kadyrov emphasized that he did not have the power to do so. But Kadyrov did say he had held consultations with Malik Saydullaev on the executive power structure in Chechnya and Kadyrov did not rule out that Malik could after all take the post. The first deputy head of the Chechen administration Nuzhden Daayev told Kommersant Daily that Akhmad Kadyrov had nothing to do with Saydullayev's appointment. According to Daayev, Kadyrov never recommended Saydullayev for the post and never discussed that issue with anyone. Daayev said that the Chechen administration had submitted a draft plan for the organizational structure of the Chechen administration to the presidential envoy in Southern federal district. That draft stipulated for the formation of a new government in the Republic of Chechnya.
According to the proposal, first deputy Akhmad Kadyrov would act as the head of the government. However, said Nuzhden Daayev, the envoy's office ruled that as yet there was no need to form a government and that the president's decree on the temporary administrative structure of Chechnya does not provide for creation of the new government. To all appearances, the idea of forming a government in the mutinous republic was put forward by Vladimir Yelagin, who was been recently appointed Minister for Chechnya. It is Vladimir Yelagin's job to coordinate the actions of the federal agencies commissioned to restore Chechnya's economy. Presumably, he would be the one who would benefit most from the creation of the republican government.
At present, the Minister for Chechnya receives no significant finances. In the event that a republican government is formed it will be entitled to budget funding. And, naturally, Vladimir Yelagin would like to see a person loyal to the federal government as Chechen prime minister. Malik Saydullayev, who actively cooperated with the federals when the deputy prime minister Nikokai Koshman supervised Chechnya, could be such a person. Kommersant assumes that the federal government has recommended Akhmad Kadyrov to offer Saydullayev the PM's post, while Akhmad Kadyrov was somewhat cautious about Saydullayev's possible appointment. However, Kadyrov's subordinates have openly opposed the idea of Saydullyev's appointment. Nuzhden Daayev predicts that Saydullayev's appointment will a cause collision of two opposite forces in the republic and "the situation will be completely destabilized." Saydullayev's office has not yet responded to Kadyrov's subordinates.
END
Chechnya in the Eyes of Western Journalists
(Glasnost Foundation) France-Press Agency ~ Dec. 21
The number of attacks on federal troops and checkpoints has increased. The Russian soldiers from attacked checkpoint interviewed by the journalist said that they think the war will be endless. The 20 years sergeant Alexei Artiuh said there are two ways out of the conflict. First is to leave Chechnya and the second is to burn it all over leaving nobody alive. "Soldiers are exhausted by war and by stupidity of their commanders".
According to the soldiers the soldiers the number of rebels is comparable with number if insects in their tents and they look on those Russian soldiers sent to fight rebels as on people which are sentenced death. France-Press also reports referring on one of the officers of interim administration that Sunday there were 19 soldiers killed: 16 during the attacks on checkpoints, and three as a result of the bombing of the armored transporter. These figures and statements disqualify the statements of the general staff spokespersons that the "anti-terrorist operation" is on it's final phase.
CLEANSING IN THE EAST SIDE OF GROZNY
December 18 the federal forces blocked the east side of Grozny which includes the university a pedagogical college and a school to hold a prosecution action. A lot of professorial staff and youngsters found themselves in a cleansing zone. According to the information we received today there were tens of professors and students beaten, several people were taken hostages and taken to unknown direction.
DEAD START SPEAKING (MESSAGE FROM SHIRVANI BASAEV)
The federal troop brought by helicopters to the Vedeno region continues shootings to villages located near Vedeno. These villages as constantly reported by sources in Moscow are "controlled by federal troops". The head of Vedeno region Shirvani Basaev (who was reported killed by federal soldiers) said that several Russian detachments imitated the offensive on Dargo. Younger Basaev said this offensive is totally pointless because Russians have already occupied Dargo. It's already a long time since the front line has disappeared in Chechnya. The mobile groups of Chechen rebels are situated everywhere around Chechnya. This is known both in Moscow and in Chechnya. At the same time the military headquarters to not stop announcing another special operation each three months. According to Chechen sources the new offensive. is just an information game of Jasterzhembsky's Office which will end up in another confusion. The Jasterzhembsky's Office are already aware that this operation will not lead to liquidation of the prominent rebels commanders.
VIRTUAL OPERATION HAS IT'S REFLECTION IN REAL ATTACKS
The virtual operation on the south of Chechnya is accompanied by the increase in the attacks of rebels all over Chechnya. December 19 the mobile forces held several operations against the federal troops in Grozny, Gudermes, Urus-Martan, Argu, Kurchaloevsty and Shatoevsky region. In Grozny Chechens arranged a massive attack from fire-shooters and granate-shooters on federal motor-detachment. The attack continued during 15 minutes. Two armored transporters were destroyed. Six Russian soldiers were killed. In Argun and Gudermes the rebels bombed two armored cars and a truck. They used shells and remote controlled mines. In Shatoy region the Russian military column was attacked. Rebel's sources report at least 10 soldiers killed during this attack. In Hidi-Hutor near Kurchalovsky district rebels attacked the intelligence-commandos group. According to Amir Abudar 14 commandos soldiers were killed, more than 20 injured. Chechen side reports confiscation of a big amount of weapons.
REBELS DIG UNDER THE FEDERAL TROOPS
The Federal Security Service's Taskforce on Russia and Chechnya reports prevention of a terrorism action in Shali. The Information Departmentreported finding of a 35 meters long underground channel leading to the Commandant's Office in from the cellar of one of the houses. The rebels planned to reach the territory of the Commandant's Office and to place a bomb on it's territory. The Chechen diggers were arrested.
KADYROV OFFERED SAIDULLAEV TO BE THE PRIME MINISTER
During the talks between two well-known pro-Russian Chechen leaders Malik Saidulaev (the Head of the State Council) was offered to occupy the seat of the prime-minister of Chechnya within the framework of Kadyrov's interim administration. Siidullaev is reported to accept this offer. This is a sing of peace between these two leaders who earlier blamed each other in being useless and inefficient.
BEREZOVSKY HOLDS TALKS WITH REBELS
The Russian magnate Boris Berezovsky who is currently staying abroad started to once again develop contacts with Chechen resistance leadership. He said he is taking the role of mediator in the Chechen conflict. According to Berezovsky all his contacts with the Chechens were interrupted earlier by Vladimir Putin who asked him to stop all the communication with them. Berezovsky thinks Russia should have stopped it's offensive in the end of 1999 when Russian forces approached Terek river. At this moment Russians were sure they've won and Chechens believed they are loosing. The continuation of operation pushed the majority of Chechens to become anti-Russian. Berezovsky believes it would be logical to invite Maskhadov as a partner for negotiations, there can appear e necessity to hold talks with Basaev and other commanders as well.
END
Chechnya in Clutches of Quicksand Conflict
By Colin McMahon, Tribune Foreign Correspondent ~ December 21
A year has passed since Russian generals said victory was imminent in Chechnya, the southern republic that has been home to separatist rebellion, lawlessness and murderous brutality throughout much of the last decade.Yet as the war enters its 16th month, chaos more than calm reigns. Russian servicemen still die at sorrowful rates. Despite its promises to the Chechen people, Moscow does little to rebuild the devastated land. And Chechen civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict.
A few days ago, the Russian military acknowledged what almost everyone in Chechnya has been saying for months: Its strategy to wipe out the shrinking but still potent band of separatist rebels is failing. A leading Russian general said last week that troops will leave their bases to deploy in small contingents across Chechnya. The goal is to limit the rebels' freedom of movement and make good on military promises to deal the separatists a crushing blow this winter. But the new tactics, if actually carried out, could open up smaller groups of Russian soldiers to the kind of quick, well-executed strikes that have made the Chechen rebels such a deadly force.
The military's change in tactics is a tacit admission that, indeed, things are not normal. "It's worse than the last war," said Zaira Batukayeva, a 24-year-old medical student from Grozny who works at a dilapidated hospital in the Chechen capital. "There was more order during the last war. Now there is absolutely none." Even today, despite Russian claims that the fighting is all but over, most patients brought to Grozny's Hospital No. 9 have been wounded by bombs, bullets or land mines. The thud of artillery remains a common sound in Chechnya, especially in the mountains to the south. Gunfights occur nightly, in Grozny and many other places where Russians have checkpoints."The way to sleep is to turn your tape player up really loud," said Madina Aliyeva, 20, who lives in Samashki and studies in Grozny. "But I cannot say you get used to the shooting."
Though it's not saying much, Russian troops are better off now than during the 1994-96 war, which ended in a humiliating Russian retreat. They are not so poorly prepared, not so poorly coordinated. Their numbers are greater. They get more support from the Russian people and political leaders. Serving in Chechnya is still a dangerous and dirty mission. But veterans insist it is not the complete bedlam of the last war. The Chechen rebels, on the other hand, are worse off. They have lost much credibility, even among their own people. Aslan Maskhadov was a great rebel leader in the first war, but he failed as president after it. Infighting, corruption and constant pressure from Moscow conspired to doom Maskhadov's presidency and rob the Chechen people of their faith in the former rebel leadership.
Now some rebel fighters have been exposed as common criminals, more interested in personal enrichment than political ideology. The cynicism runs so deep that average Chechens are convinced that some so-called field commanders do dirty work for Russian military intelligence. To be sure, some Chechen civilians still support the independence cause. Rebels in need can usually count on a hot meal or medicine, particularly from Chechen civilians in their same clan. Russian soldiers remain the enemy for the vast majority of Chechens. But the spirit and unity that the Chechens showed in the first war has faded. "For the most part, the average Chechens don't view this as a conflict between two sides," said Kenneth Gluck, an American who works with Doctors Without Borders in Chechnya. "They view this as a daily torment that they are being subjected to. They view themselves as hostages of this conflict."
The civilians are quite often casualties as well. In recent days: A shootout in Grozny killed six university students who were caught in the crossfire. Eight men were found dead in a ditch, shot multiple times after federal forces combed their town in what the Russians call a "mopping-up" operation. Assassins targeted whole families in several Chechen villages. A car filled with explosives blew up near a mosque in Alkhan-Yurt, killing more than 20 civilians; half the dead were children. The nightly rebel attacks and the edginess of Russian soldiers on guard duty make moving about after dark impossible for civilians. Even during the day civilians are subjected to scores of checkpoints across their land. Soldiers arbitrarily close roads or bar passage. They find fault with legitimate documents, unless a dollar or two encourages them to look the other way. Untold numbers of wounded civilians have died in Chechnya because Russian forces barred them from crossing roadblocks to get medical care.
During the first war, people suffering from severe trauma wounds routinely showed up at Dr. Harid Seneroyev's hospital in Sleptsovsk, just outside Chechnya in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia. Now such cases are few."I have not gotten so much better at treating the critically wounded," Seneroyev said, explaining why deaths at his hospital are down from the previous war. "We just don't see them here so often." The reason is simple: Those wounded severely, and there are still plenty of such cases, cannot survive delays at Russian checkpoints that can last up to several days. They die in Chechnya.
Russian soldiers routinely loot Chechen homes or extort money from their residents, Chechen civilians and international monitors allege. They arbitrarily round up Chechen civilians for questioning. Sometimes they sell these "suspected bandits" back to their families. Sometimes the men disappear into a "filtration" system that is rife with rights abuses.Human-rights groups allege, in well-documented reports, that Chechens have been tortured and summarily executed by Russian forces."The level of terror is rising daily in Chechnya," Gluck said. "Assassinations. Arrests. Torture. Since the summer it has gotten worse. All of this is contrary to what people are saying about normalization in Chechnya."
Though Russian forces ostensibly control most of Chechnya, the rebels have stepped up attacks of late. In one recent 24-hour period, according to officials with the pro-Moscow civilian administration, rebel fighters killed 19 soldiers--16 in attacks on checkpoints and installations and three when rebels blew up an armored personnel carrier. Chechen civilians, said one observer in the republic, look at their predicament this way: "There is no future with the rebels, but there is no present with the Russians."
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Russian Soldiers Kill Civilians in Chechnya
Musda Stoun, Kavkaz-Tsentr (BBC Monitoring) ~ Dec. 20
The Chechen mojahedin sub-units shall not stop their attacks and audacious counterattack against the Russian occupying forces even for a day. A Chechen detachment waged a fierce exchange of fire with the occupiers for 90 minutes in the center of Dzhokhar [Groznyy] on Sunday [16 December]. The mojahedin attacked and destroyed a group of aggressors and traitors from the so-called "pro-Moscow police".
The Chechen command reported that the building used by the occupation administration and police were subjected to attacks using grenades and flame-throwers. A mojahedin escort group blocked the movement of a Russian flying squad unit to the building. The fighting area covered several blocks of buildings. The Chechen side reported that the mojahedin detachment withdrew from the center of the city after fulfilling its military task. Three Chechen traitors and nine Russian occupiers were killed as a result of the fierce exchange of fire. An armored personnel carrier and an armored vehicle were set on fire. A mojahed was martyred and three more were slightly injured on the Chechen side.
In addition, a Chechen fighters sabotage group destroyed a GAZ 66 vehicle with 12 soldiers in the northern part of Dzhokhar. The explosion occurred in the area of "the northern little bazaar". Five soldiers were killed and seven were injured as the result of the explosion. Mojahedin carried out five sabotage acts and two serious fighting in the area of "the northern little bazaar" over the last two weeks.
Strikes against the aggressors were not suspended in Argun at all. Mojahedin fired at the enemy more than 20 times, carried out seven sabotage acts and waged two fights with the occupiers over the last weekend [16-17 December]. The Chechen saboteurs managed to destroy a Ural vehicle with ammunition and another vehicle with aircraft ammunition. More than 19 enemy soldiers were killed as a result of these military operations.
The Russian side reported about "a new military operations" in Nozhay-Yurtovskiy and Vedenskiy Districts of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The mojahedin command reported that it was an operation launched by paratroopers in a helicopter in the area of Makhkety settlement, Vedeno district center and the village of Dargo on Friday [15 December]. During the operation the paratroopers attacked Makhkety village. Two houses were destroyed as a result of the attack and three civilians, including two women, were killed and about 15 people were injured.
A local clash with the enemy was registered in an area 1.5 km south of Vedeno over the last 48 hours and a mojahedin mobile detachment fired at airborne fighters. The mojahedin withdrew to their base after a 2-hour clash. It was reported that a helicopter gunship was destroyed and four paratroopers were killed. At the same time, the Chechen side fully denies the statements made by the aggressors about a "large scale military operations". The mojahedin command announces that the Russians trumpeted to the entire world during the whole summer and autumn about the "Listopad" [Fall of leaves] military operations which they allegedly were carrying out in the southern parts of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. In reality their statements turned out to be false. Today, Russia talks about "new operations" which are in fact "combined military operations" and they are embarrassed to call them so. Commenting on the enemy actions, the Chechen commander, Shamil Basayev, proposed that the occupiers should call their new operations as "Snegopad" [Fall of snow].
The Russian press is continuing to quote the Russian command about the killing of a family in the village of Alkhan-Yurt. The occupiers reported that "the fighters" killed a family of four: father, mother and two daughters. The inhabitants of Alkhan-Yurt are stating the opposite. They say that Russian soldiers killed the Chechen family. The neighbors of the killed family also confirm this. The inhabitants [Alkhan-Yurt] say that during the night of killing two armored personnel carriers with masked soldiers burst into the house and for several minutes gun shots were heard. The armored personnel carriers left the house after 25 minutes. Despite the fact that almost all the villagers know about the real murderers, the Russian journalists are openly lying about it and hiding the sadism and wild cruelty of the military criminals.
Musda Stoun, Kavkaz-Tsentr Source: Kavkaz-Tsentr web site, in Russian 0620 GMT 18 Dec 00
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Chechnya Gets First Senator in Russian Parliament Since 1997
December 20
The Russian upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, voted Wednesday for Akhmat Zavgayev to become the first senator for Chechnya since 1997. Zavgayev's nomination was proposed by the head of the pro-Moscow administration in the war-torn republic Akhmad Kadyrov. A total of 118 senators voted in favour of the candidate, with two abstaining during Wednesday's session. Zavgayev's brother Doku, who lead the republic from 1995 to 1997, was the last senator to represent Chechnya in the Federation Council. His successor, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, who is no longer officially recognized by Moscow, refused to take up his mandate in the Federation Council after Russia granted de-facto independence to the republic following the 1994-1996 war.
Doku Zavgayev currently serves as the Russian ambassador to Tanzania. Kadyrov arrived in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the creation of a Chechen government with Russian officials, a close administration source told AFP. The former mufti, or religious leader, who was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June, said Wednesday that he should lead the new government and did not exclude the prospect of multi- millionaire Chechen businessman Malik Saidulayev acting as his deputy, RIA Novosti reported. "I was appointed to head Chechnya by the Russan President. I do not have the authority to pass this responsibility on to someone else," the news agency quoted Kadyrov as saying.
Kadyrov noted that his deputy would have the same responsibility as a Prime Minister and that "this could be Saidulayev". He confirmed that he had met with Saidulayev on Tuesday to discuss the Chechen government, but added that administrative positions had not yet been assigned. Russia sent troops back into the breakaway republic on October 1 last year in a self-styled "anti-terrorist operation" to stamp out rebels blamed for a series of apartment bombings that killed 292 people and several rebel incursions into the neighboring republic of Dagestan.
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5 Chechen Students, Instructor Killed in Grenade Attack
(AP) ~ Dec. 20
Five students and an instructor from Chechnya's university in Grozny were killed Wednesday in a battle that started when rebels opened fire with grenade launchers on Russian soldiers, officials said. One Russian serviceman also was killed and four injured in the gun battle, said a Russian government spokesman on Chechnya, Konstantin Makeyev. Fifteen civilians were wounded, an official in the Grozny administration said on condition of anonymity. Several of the grenades fired by rebels landed on the university grounds, killing the students, Makeyev said. A university instructor died later in a hospital.
Russian troops were sweeping buildings and roads near the university for mines and booby traps Wednesday morning, when rebels opened fire from several directions, Makeyev said. Russian servicemen returned fire, apparently killing and injuring several insurgents, although no precise figures on rebel casualties were available, he said. Rebel attacks occur daily in the Chechen capital of Grozny, which has been held by Russian troops for months, but such major battles with heavy civilian casualties are rare.
In another incident in Grozny, government troops on Tuesday fired at and stopped a truck loaded with explosives that was headed at high speed toward a pro-Russian police office, Makeyev said. Two men riding in the truck fled when the firing began, but a woman passenger was injured and detained, Makeyev said.
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Saidullayev Agrees to Become Chechen Prime Minister
Itar-Tass ~ December 20
Chairman of the Chechen State Council and high-profile businessman Malik Saidullayev has accepted the proposal to become Chechen prime minister, a source at the administration of the head of the Chechen republic told Tass on Tuesday. With this nomination, a full-fledged regional government functions in Chechnya, the source said. The roundtable "Chechen Republic: ways out of the crisis" was held in Moscow on Tuesday. Its participants suggested at the inititive of the Third Force - for Peace in Chechnya movement that a congress of Chechen people be called.
It is expected to be held in February-March 2001 with the participation of elders, representatives from all clans and influential Chechen forces. Its organisers intend to invite representatives of Basayev and Hattab to the congress. An adopted address to President Vladimir Putin expresses support for his actions to restore peace in the North Caucasus. During the anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya, 15 gunmen, including mercenaries, were destroyed in a large-scale action in the Vedeno district.
Several terrorist acts were warded off in Grozny and other Chechen districts. For instance a truck with explosives was apprehended in Grozny's Central district. The truck contained 1.5 tonnes of saltpetre, 240 kilos of plastic and six 152 mm shells. A powerful explosive device, consisting of a cluster of grenades and TNT blocks as well as a MON-50 mine, was uncovered in an apartment house. An explosive device, consisting of a mine TM-57 and a grenade RGD-5, was found in Gudermes. Police seized 24 kilos of TNT, two kilos of plastic, grenades and rounds to a grenade launcher in the village of Dai.
Two grenade launchers, 37 grenades and 6,500 cartridges were unearthed in the villages of Zandak and Urus-Martan. A sap in the backyard of a house, situated close to the commandant's office of the Shali district and a helicopter strip, was found in the town of Shali. The sap was made from the house's cellar in the direction of the above structures. According to Chechen law enforcement bodies, there are now 3,000 people, participating in armed gangs, in Grozny. Skirmishes between troops at blockhouses and groups of gunmen are conducted virtually every night in Grozny.*
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Helping Children Recover From the World's Worst War
By Patrick Cockburn ~ December 20
Markha, a 14-year-old Chechen girl, sometimes sleeps in her younger sister's jacket. The cloth is punctured by bullet holes and stained with blood, because her sister is dead. Russian soldiers killed her when they fired randomly into the courtyard of her home as she was playing. Markha refused to believe her sister was dead, asking for her body to be taken to a hospital instead of the cemetery. She often woke at night thinking her sister was calling her. "I always, day and night, think about my sister," she said. She blames herself for the shooting. "If I hadn't let her out and she had been at home nothing would have happened. They should have killed me," she said. Markha believes her mother also blames her for what happened. She said: "Mum thinks I am guilty, and that's why she doesn't pay attention to me." After a time she did not want to see her parents.
Markha is one of a thousand children a month, traumatised by savage fighting in Chechnya, who receive psychological rehabilitation from the Centre for Peacemaking and Community Development (CPCD). The centre is supported by Hope for Children, the charity chosen by The Independent for this year's Christmas appeal. "The symptoms are often depression, children withdraw into themselves, they cannot concentrate, they hide under the table when they hear a plane," said Chris Hunter, one of the organisation's founders.
The CPCD was set up in 1994 when the first war in Chechnya began. It operated through the war, despite two of its workers being kidnapped. In the second war in 1999, it had to abandon its main rehabilitation centre in Grozny, the Chechen capital, because of the Russian bombing. Today it has 54 psychologists and councillors helping children, both in Chechnya and in refugee camps in Ingushetia. "The main thing is to provide a warm environment where children can have fun," said Mr Hunter. "They paint and play musical instruments. They begin to trust people again." Therapy often means helping children forget what they have seen. Rumissa, a 12-year-old girl, was haunted by the memory of three dying Russian soldiers. Jabrail, aged 11, was obsessed by the sight of two bleeding Chechen fighters being carried into the cellar where her family was hiding.
Since 1999 Russian forces have largely sealed off Chechnya. There are fewer kidnappings than before but they are still a danger. However, there is a far greater sense of hopelessness today among all Chechens, not just children, than during the first war. Other CPCD projects include a mine-awareness programme, aimed at children. Some 150 Chechens are wounded each month by mines, mostly anti-personnel mines which frequently tear off a foot. In the southern mountains they are randomly scattered by Russian helicopters. For young children the mines, which resemble large mushrooms, may look like a toy.
The sheer inaccessibility of Chechnya, because of Russian restrictions and the threat of Chechen kidnappings, masks the cumulative horrors of the war. For instance, last year Yusup, a Chechen boy, was playing with friends in a field near his village. A Russian missile landed. Three children were killed and Yusup was badly wounded. Gangrene set in and his legs were amputated. The CPCD arranged for him to have artificial legs fitted in Germany. In one of the nastiest conflicts on earth, the organisation is one of the few signs of practical humanity at work.
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