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."
END
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
END
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.
END
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.
END
Chechnya - A Zone of Irrisponsability
by Ilya Maksakov, "Nezavisimaya Gazeta", Prague Watchdog ~ Dec. 20
The crisis in Chechnya has become an integral part of life in Russia and, strangely enough, this manifests itself in facts excluding each another. On the one hand, authorities reaffirm that the "basic aims in Chechnya have been achieved", but on the other hand, they do not object to the political way of tackling the crisis, although they give virtually no information what political methods are in question and show an obvious state of inactivity.
Russian political circles have been making an eager effort to influence the activities of the Kremlin. However, there is no possibility of achieving that and, consequently, the criticism of Russian senior officials is rising. As a matter of fact, the majority of Russian society, having become accustomed to the conflict, is continuously backing the federal forces' campaign in Chechnya. At the same time, daily losses and the absence of any clear perspective is making people drained from the situation. As it was a year ago, military officials still give promises that the anti-terrorist campaign will soon be ended, but they are beginning to look less convincing in their declarations. Chechen politicians loyal to Moscow continue clearing up relations among one another, while separatists' leaders have gone into an intangible reality or, as Sergey Yastrzhembsky put it, they are phantoms who seem to exist and even create severe damages to the federal forces and to politics in Russia, though being in a sort of virtual world such as appearing on the Internet or in newspapers.
The outlook from Moscow
President Vladimir Putin has not commented on the Chechen topic very often in recent days. Nevertheless, he has not been allowed to ignore it completely. Just before and during his visit to France in the end of October he declared that basic aims, set a year ago, were achieved and the anti-terrorist operation was in its final stage. In his response to Western criticism he brought about following question: "So are we refused the right of self-defense?", while warning his opponents at the same time by saying: "If terrorism is not stopped in Chechnya, it will thrive in Russia tomorrow and threaten abroad once again." He said there are two main tasks - to prevent the possibility of Chechnya being used as a bridge-head for an attack on Russia, and to rid Chechnya of fundamentalism. Talking about the perspectives of a political method of tackling the crisis, Putin confirmed that there will be democratic elections in Chechnya "as soon as we can see the right conditions for that."
Some time ago, during his talks with senior Russian military officials, Putin attracted observers' attention by saying: "To secure that the territory does not become a source of interregional and ethnic conflicts, rather than the formal status of the Chechen Republic, is of the highest importance." He assured the public of the perspective that the conflict in Chechnya and the country's future status would be determined by political means only. The unexpected comment had to be cleared by Sergey Yastrzhembsky, the president's closest official. As he put it, the only question is whether Chechnya becomes a presidential or a parliamentary republic, alternatively, the one with a mixed form of governing. Yastrzhembsky again declared the objectives of the anti-terrorist campaign. The first, being the most important goal, the wiping-out of the "terrorist enclave"; the second is the re-introduction of the Russian constitution and the enforcement of Russian laws' in the territory of the Chechen Republic; the third is the development of a social sphere. What is interesting, although controversial with his next declarations, Yastrzhembsky stressed that only after the wiping-out of the terrorist gangs would it be time to deal with the other two aims.
Clearly, the Kremlin's position stays firm, though giving no information about either the character or any deadline of the crisis' solution. This just leads to the highlight of alternative proposals and the re-awakening of criticism aimed at the Russian government. Interestingly enough, even Viktor Kazantsev, plenipotentiary of the president in the Southern federal region, made it clear that the present situation in Chechnya requires sweeping changes. As early as in October he expressed discontent over the structure of administration in Chechnya, and his firm determination to change it.
His proposal is based on the full centralization of the administration as well as on the aim to introduce the post of a coordinator who would assume responsibility "for economy, the monitoring of financial flows, and the activities of armed structures - in other words for everything." Kazantsev assumed that his reform would be carried out in November, with everybody being aware of the fact that it does not count on either the head of Chechen administration Akhmed Kadyrov or the present administration itself. Firstly, the supervision of armed structures will never be assigned to a Chechen politician; secondly, the administration of the Chechen Republic, established by the decree of the Russian president, has received no economic and political powers save for the right to form local authorities.
Kazantsev's statements gave rise to a plan of substitution on the post of a leading official in Chechnya. Certain political circles are toying with the idea that Gennadi Troshev, a commander of the Northern-Caucasus military region, should replace Akhmed Kadyrov. General Gennadi Troshev kept on denying this possibility, though doing it by making everybody believe that Kadyrov's administration is coming to its final moment. Troshev claimed that Kadyrov's activities lacked consistency with his tending to administrative intrigues instead of tackling real problems, and that Kadyrov "is trying to ease internal problems in Chechnya by our hands." At the same time, although the general said that he couldn't imagine himself out of the army, military officials' moving on to politics is a "natural process" as "the country's administration requires fair people who have a political way of thinking". This made clear that the Kremlin was presenting a really exact program of future activities and that it has to decide whether this program will be accepted or not.
Similar proposals were discussed within the majority of political authorities as well. Many considered establishing Chechen administration just after the presidential election in Russia as a half-hearted measure, and the appeal for the introduction of a presidential or a federal governing in Chechnya as weak. Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, has discussed the Chechen crisis several times in September and October, which has resulted only in producing a number of recommendations for the Kremlin and all of the executive authorities. One piece of advice coincided with Viktor Kazantsev's recommendation - introducing either the post of a special representative of the Russian president in Chechnya, or the vice-presidency with the power of coordinating and checking the activities of federal ministries and departments, including military ones.
Moreover, Russian MPs paid extraordinary attention to the question of the observance of human rights in Chechnya. As a matter of fact, placing this question on the agenda of September 26 parliamentary discussions, in the presence of high representatives of the Council of Europe and PACE, has been the first criticism of the federal forces at such a high diplomatic level since the beginning of the second campaign in Chechnya. Duma urged the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs to take extra measures to prevent the inadequate use of power, decrease the number of checkpoints, canceling those in three northern regions of Chechnya and declaring them "zones of peace". MPs also appealed for checking all of the facts of Chechen arrests carried out by the Ministry of Interior and the Federal Security Service (FSB), and advocated discussing this question at the Security Council. Also, Russian administration got into a troubled position facing the problem of Chechen refugees' security in winter. As a matter of fact, Russian MPs and officials cooperating with international organizations that supervise the observing of human rights in Chechnya and living conditions of refugees, say openly in their lobby talks that "they are fed up with lying, even though they have to lie".
As there was no reaction from the side of the authorities, November 3 saw a closed meeting of Duma and the chiefs of ministries and departments handling the Chechen conflict. The meeting unveiled the fact that executive and legislative powers are far from having the same views on the issue. If the session were open, it would certainly result in a scandal, for MPs as well as officials sometimes argued using a high tone and asked each other for choosing their words carefully. The representatives of executive power were very discontented by the interference of MPs in their work, while Duma representatives felt dissatisfaction with that work. Thus, the Kremlin faced two challenges - either to change its policy in Chechnya or to give another response to the appeals. It seemed that the Kremlin was ready for changes at the beginning. Sergey Yastrzhembsky said that he "would commit a sin of lying" if he claimed that Moscow was happy about the activities of the Chechen administration. He considered the situation as stagnant and pointed out "a certain move" that must be done.
At the same time, various political powers and financial circles took up lobby fights for the impact from the president's decision, advocating certain programs and candidates. As a result, in late November, Vladimir Putin gave his assent to the introduction of the post of a minister coordinating the activities of federal executive authorities in the economic and social development of Chechnya. The post was assigned to 45-year old Vladimir Yelagin, a former top administrator in the Orenburg region who recently worked as a secretary for the chairman of the state building corporation Gosstroy. Evidently, even though that decision was in stark contrast with the suggestions and ideas given to the president, it received stalwart support by all senior officials. In his explanations of the president's act, Sergey Yastrzhembsky pointed out that Moscow takes for granted the impossibility of tackling the crisis in Chechnya only by means of power. The antiterrorist campaign has to be accompanied by handling the issue of economic and social development of the country (notice that, as mentioned above, not a long time ago had Yastrzhembsky suggested the question of economic and social development should come only after terrorist gangs were wiped out).
Viktor Khristenko, vice-premier and chairman of the governmental commission on the re-establishment of social and economic spheres, is of the opinion that the introduction of the ministerial post proves that the conflict was attached to a national importance. Vladimir Kalamanov, a special representative for the observance of human freedom and rights in Chechnya, backed the president's decision claiming that there had been no exactly elaborated mechanism of the federal authorities' coordination, with chaos and disorder reigning there for months. The head of the independent public commission on Chechnya, Pavel Krasheninnikov, sharing typical practice, expressed evident doubts. Even though he backed the president's decree, he considers it insufficient and half-hearted, urging the need to introduce the post of vice-premier who would handle economic and social problems as well as those of military character.
As a result, we can conclude that the Kremlin decided not to run the risk of assuming an absolute responsibility for the crisis' tackling by concentrating overall power in Chechnya in one's hands. Surely, as Vladimir Kalamanov put it, the fact that chaos and disorder reigned in Chechnya was by no means because of the absence of a minister for social-economic development of the country. Vladimir Elagin's best determinations can be hampered by the endless war of guerillas, bomb-terrorists, saboteurs or what ever we call them, and by the fact that military and judiciary authorities remain under no supervision. The new minister, although he does not have enough power to influence the overall handling of the crisis, he is a fairly powerful figure that many would like to be. Vladimir Yelagin himself outlined his aims: to establish financial flows leading to Chechnya in the way that they are under a perfect supervision and that money gets to its destination. This will involve financial sources of huge economic empires such as "UES of Russia" (United Energy System), "Gazprom", or the Ministry of Information.
To conclude, be it Russian authorities' desire or not, all aspects show the crisis in Chechnya is slowly going to conserve. Scarcely anybody doubts that many give a warm welcome to it. The smouldering conflict and the total lack of rule of law in the country turns Chechnya into a good shooting-range as well as a financial "black hole". It is possible that Moscow is afraid of the centralization of power in Chechnya due to a tremendous responsibility that could have an undermining influence on that power, or because of the necessary legal expenses that would be required. This would be understandable but what officials' explanations raise is only doubts. Sergey Yastrzhembsky expressed his view that it is not necessary to introduce a presidential form of governing in Chechnya as "there hasto be cogent grounds for that".
Surprisingly enough, federal authorities do not see the cogent grounds in the following facts: federal forces suffer losses that make up as many as the crew of a Kursk-like nuclear submarine every month; Chechen inhabitants are totally deprived of any rights, and often the right to live; the smouldering crisis in Chechnya means a threat of losing stability all over the Northern Caucasus. However, to be fair, it is worth mentioning that Russian senior officials, commenting on the crisis in private debates, confirm that the question of reforming management in Chechnya as well as the issue of Gennady Troshev's assignment are far from being closed.
As far as the actual military conflict is concerned, Russian military and political representations keep on beaming with optimism and thus make the situation increasingly confusing. For instance, Sergey Yastrzhembsky is convinced that federal forces have prospects of "ringing down the curtain on the military phase" by the end of winter this year. However, it was as early as in April this year that officials declared "the military phase" ended with special operations being started. A different terminology, though of the same meaning, is used by the Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev. Marshal Sergeyev is assured that federal forces plan to destroy the final troop of extremists in winter. Valery Baranov, commander of united forces, comes with an echo promising that the situation in Chechnya will be normalized "in political, military and economic spheres" during winter. The Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Kvashnin, chooses his words more carefully urging not to link the destruction of individual terrorists with particular deadlines. However, he declares that "bandits will be exterminated".
Similarly, Russian military authorities do not throw much light on the question of enemy numbers. Only those who really do not want to cannot see that official summaries have been showing the same number of enemies for a long time, regardless of everyday reports on the federal forces' successful operations. In this case, it is possible to use the evidence that President Putin has at his disposal. According to these numbers, there were 5 - 6 thousand people in military gangs in the territory of Chechnya at the beginning of the war, while today there are some 1000 - 1200 bandits, united in 4 - 5 isolated groups. As the same statistics suggest, the overall casualties of Russian military forces during operations in Northern Caucasus make up 2600. Anatoly Kvashnin admits that "the bandits sometimes successfully operate at high tactical levels and commit sabotage and acts of terrorism resulting in the casualties of Russian soldiers." Kvashnin blames the low professionalism of the soldiers in the time of units' rotation. The second part, "The Outlook from Chechnya", will be published tomorrow.
END
Lebed Calls for Chechnya Talks
By Andrew Jack, Financial Times ~ December 19
General Alexander Lebed, a central figure in resolving Russia's first Chechen war, on Tuesday backed growing calls for a negotiated settlement with rebel fighters in the breakaway Russian republic. Mr Lebed, now governor of the Krasnoyarsk region in central Siberia, said: "We need a political settlement. You must hold talks with those in authority. There is no point having partners who cannot take decisions." His comments come amid growing public concern over the military activities in Chechnya and follows a number of high profile calls for peace talks. Mr Lebed has maintained a low profile but important role in the region since negotiating a peace settlement in 1996, co-ordinating the North Caucasus Peace Mission since 1998 which brings together political, religious and community leaders from the region and has been instrumental in releasing more than 160 hostages.
He said a military approach to the conflict could never be successful, and said the Russian authorities should begin talks with leaders including Aslan Maskhadov, the elected president of Chechnya and a rebel commander. However, he ruled out discussions with Shamil Basayev and Khattab, the two rebel leaders who invaded neighbouring Dagestan in 1999 and triggered the latest conflict. "It will never be possible to convince them. They will need to be shot," he said.
While the Kremlin and the Russian government has repeatedly stressed its commitment to a political solution to Chechnya, there have been no public indications of a move towards negotiations with the rebels in recent months. Sergei Yastrzhembsky, the government spokesman on Chechnya, on Tuesday maintained a tough line, ruling out any talks with the "terrorists" Basayev and Khattab, and saying the only discussions with Mr Maskhadov could be concerning his "capitulation".
On Tuesday Mr Lebed refused to be drawn on previous comments that Russian security services may have been involved in engineering the Russian apartment bombings which mobilised public opinion in favour of the conflict in October 1999. However, he expressed his pessimism about a short-term resolution to Chechnya, and predicted an escalation in the conflict over coming months. In September, a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Foundation found that 34 per cent of those polled disapproved of the army's activities, compared with 22 per cent in January. A poll by Romir in November found just over half wanted continued military action.
END
Russia Says it Killed 15 Chechens, Rebels Defiant
Reuters ~ Dec. 19
Russia said on Tuesday its forces had killed 15 Chechen fighters in an effort to make good on promises by top military brass to crush the region's separatist rebels this winter. But the discovery of three dead Russian soldiers and a bomb blast under a train near the strife-torn region's second town highlighted the stubborn defiance of rebel fighters, who have officially killed about 2,500 Kremlin troops since September, 1999. ''In the Vedeno district of Chechnya 15 fighters were destroyed in course of an operation which began on Saturday,'' Konstantin Makeyev, a representative of the Kremlin's Chechnya spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told Reuters. ''We are looking for groups of fighters and when we find them we launch powerful blows -- artillery attacks,'' Makeev said.
He said no one had been injured by the bomb blast under a train near Gudermes on Tuesday night, but confirmed reports that three Russian servicemen had been found dead inside one of Chechnya's neighbouring republics. ''Unfortunately it was on the territory of Ingushetia,'' Makeev said, adding that lightning raids by the Chechens on Russian troops perpetuated a state of high-alert in the region. ''You understand the chain reaction -- they kill soldiers, the soldiers react inappropriately and it all flares up again..it's truly sad.''
KREMLIN CHANGES TACTICS
In a change of tactics last week, armed forces chief of staff Anatoly Kvashnin said that a task force would hunt down leading Chechen commanders and troops would leave the relative safety of their bases to deploy in small contingents across the restive region. The tactics appeared to have delivered their first success for Moscow on Monday when Yastrzhembsky's office said top rebel field commander Shirvani Basayev had been ''destroyed'' in a special operation. But a spokesman for the rebels denied the reports of the death of Basayev, the brother of another top field commander Shamil, noting that the Kremlin had claimed to have killed him several times before. Kvashnin said the new approach to Chechnya was also intended to deliver much-needed protection to the region's local pro-Moscow administrators, regular targets of rebel hitmen. But days later a policeman was killed in a guerrilla raid on the office of the capital Grozny's pro-Kremlin mayor Bislan Gantamirov. Itar-Tass news agency reported on Tuesday that Malik Saidullaev, a wealthy businessman and head of the Chechen state council, had agreed to lead a new Chechen government. A temporary administration is currently in place.
END
Berezovsky Resumes Role in Chechnya
By Andrew Jack in Moscow, Financial Times ~ December 18
Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian business "oligarch" under attack by the Kremlin, has re-established contact with Chechen rebel leaders in an effort to boost his role as a potential intermediary to resolve the conflict. In an interview with the FT, Mr Berezovsky said he had begun talking to Chechens again last month after previously suspending contact at the request of President Vladimir Putin. An average of 40-50 Russian soldiers have been killed every month since the formal end of the military assault on theChechens.
Mr Berezovsky played an important and controversial role as an intermediary for Chechnya under the administration of former President Boris Yeltsin, including negotiating the release of Russian and foreign hostages. He argued that Russia should have ceased its military campaign in late 1999 when troops reached the Terek River which divides Chechnya. At that point, he said, Russians believed psychologically they had won and Chechens that they had lost. Continuing southwards simply alienated ever more Chechens from the Russians.
Mr Berezovsky believed that Aslan Maskhadov, the rebel leader and Chechen president, remained the most logical interlocutor, and that talks were also necessary between the government and other fighters including Shamil Basayev. "There is no point talking to Chechens loyal to the Russian regime," he said. Previously politically influential, Mr Berezovsky has become an increasingly vocal critic of Mr Putin's administration and claims a corruption investigation against him is purely political.
Mr Berezovsky said that he had been involved in the management of funds of Aeroflot, the national airline, and Logovaz, a car dealership linked to the Avtovaz group, and said profits generated had been used to fund the pro-Kremlin Unity party. He added: "No person active over the last 10 years respected the law." However, the attacks against him and his management teams reflected the fact that he had helped clear large numbers of KGB and Communist party officials out of the companies. He said they had been transferring money abroad.
END
The War is Not Over in Chechnya: Pro-Moscow Civilian Chief
(AFP) ~ Dec. 18
Chechnya's top pro-Moscow official warned the Russian government Monday that the "war is not over" in the rebel province after rebels staged a daring raid on the mayor's office in the capital Grozny. "Moscow has no idea what is going on here," Akhmad Kadyrov told AFP in an interview. "Leaders need moral and financial support to achieve something but we have not received one ruble for reconstruction or compensation for the war and people are disillusioned," he added. Two Chechen policemen serving in the pro-Moscow force were killed Sunday, along with two rebel fighters, during a guerrilla attack on city hall in the war-ravaged capital, local law enforcement officials said.
On Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky blamed the recent upsurge in rebel attacks on Kadyrov's lack of control in the republic. "Alas, he does not have the influence that we had hoped for," Yastrzhembsky said in comments broadcast on state-run RTR television."The problem is that there is not one single man amongst the leaders of Chechen society that enjoys absolute or even relative support in the republic," he added. In response, Kadyrov told AFP that Moscow was searching for a scapegoat.
Meanwhile, Grozny Mayor Bislan Gantamirov also criticised the federal authorities for not providing enough manpower to secure the city. "The administration may not want to admit it, but the rebels move around the capital very easily," he told RTR. "In Grozny, there are a few thousand soldiers but it seems like there are even more rebel fighters," he added. Gantamirov, whose pro-Moscow militia fought alongside Russian troops when they captured the city early this year, said that the mayor's office is attacked "two or three times per week."
Moscow estimates that between 300 and 500 rebels operate throughout the capital, hiding in Grozny's ruins during the day and attacking federal positions at night. Ten people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Sunday attack which lasted some 50 minutes and ended when federal reinforcements arrived on the scene. In a separate incident, a Russian soldier was reported killed and two others wounded in a rebel grenade attack in Grozny, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported. The rebels managed to escape after the attack.
More than 14 months after Russia launched its military intervention in breakaway Chechnya on October 1 last year, up to 2,000 rebels continue toharass federal troops on a daily basis, targetting Russian checkpoints,convoys and Chechens collaborating with Moscow. Attacks against civilians have also increased. Earlier this month, 21 villagers died after a powerful carbomb ripped through a square near the mosque in Alkhan-Yurt, south of the capital Grozny. A column of civilian vehicles was ambushed over the weekend outside Kadyrov's administrative capital Gudermes, leaving one person dead and two wounded, Interfax reported.
Two Russian civilians -- a woman and her 52-year-old mother -- were also found murdered with signs of torture in Grozny last week. Meanwhile, the rise in rebel attacks, the serverity of the response of federal forces and the harsh Russian winter are continuing to scare away Chechens into neighbouring republics. Ingushetia officially registered 187,642 Chechen refugees Monday, 1,911 of whom had arrived over the past 24 hours, the Ingush interior ministry told ITAR-TASS.
END
Russia's Sons Come Home From Chechnya
By Margaret Paxson, The Washington Post ~ December 17
Belozersk has never had a war on its territory, which is saying a lot considering that the town is more than 1,000 years old. Set in the thickly wooded and boggy lands of the Russian north, it has peacefully made do with the modest bounties on hand: lakes and rivers filled with fish, adequate soil, and pine and birch forests offering plenty of what can be hunted and gathered and felled. Today a town of 12,000, it continues to be tied to its lands and waters, relying on them to stabilize the economic and political upheavals that have brought so much confusion to the social world.
But the country to which Belozersk belongs has collected enemies over the centuries and has sent legions of its men - largely those without status or wealth - to serve and die in distant wars. Neither Peter the Great nor Catherine the Great, neither Ivan the Terrible nor Joseph Stalin had any qualms about using towns like Belozersk to supply themselves with soldiers. And to the present day, if you sit and listen to the life stories of provincial people, the narrative milestones are the moments when a horse comes galloping into the village on a sunny summer day and the rider cries, "Men! Get your things together! The war has begun! We're off!"
Twice in a decade, Russia has waged war against its Republic of Chechnya, fighting that continues despite the Kremlin's best efforts to say it is over. These wars have been devastating at the national level, but their tragedy doesn't stop there. Simply serving within the Russian army is often profoundly brutalizing, and this has been so since long before Chechnya. Belozersk knows well the story of Alyosha Shadrinov, a 19-year-old poet who was savagely beaten by his own comrades for publicly talking about military hazing. One day, after repeated pleas for a transfer and an attempt at escape, he was found hanged. The death was officially ruled suicide; Belozersk thinks otherwise. Alyosha had been called "singer of nature" and a "higher mind," and when his body was sent home, his mother laid him out - with bloodied temples and a crushed jaw - for all to see.
But even those boys who survive the Russian army physically have emotional wounds that don't easily heal. If it could be said that the social world is the world of the living, these boys are between the world of the living and the world of the dead. They pace the night when others sleep. They are silent when others speak. They are drunk when others are sober. They languish in repose when others work. They are still without their full social bodies, and so they are, in this sense, like ghosts.
In winter Belozersk is enshrouded in white. Its lakes and rivers are frozen over and they merge with the horizon in one downy, brilliant mass. Children play on the earthen wall that surrounds the ancient kremlin of the city, zooming down its slopes on sleds and skis and random pieces of plastic, whooping with full-throated laughter and screams. I went to Belozersk last winter to talk to the families of soldiers sent to Chechnya. Some boys had already been welcomed home. Some were in battle or missing. Some had been lost for good. Belozersk itself kept careful track of them. It dedicated whole newspaper editions to these boys (with editorials and poems and letters from the front). Its mothers huddled in the streets with scraps of information exchanged in hushed voices about this or that boy. The boys themselves hardly spoke. It was their mothers who were, mostly, the mouthpieces for what they had seen and suffered. It was they who desperately strove to bridge their sons back into a world where they could be safe and productive and whole again. Here are some of their stories.
Andrei and Oleg
The house is dark inside. The winter white of the street is blocked by heavy curtains, and the living room is lit only by yellowish lamplight. A young man flashes by as I walk in the door. He is off to see his girlfriend. No nod, no goodbye. Tatiana and Igor Gryaznov have two sons. The ghost who ran out the door was Oleg. He returned from the army after serving in Daghestan, which neighbors Chechnya, and won't say a word about his time there. Two months after Oleg came back, their second son, Andrei, was drafted. He's now in Chechnya. Tatiana is upset. She is a small woman with earnest eyes and a reedy voice. She hasn't heard from her Andrei in six weeks and is beyond worry.
All of her inquiries have come to naught. Andrei is not listed among the dead or missing in action. He can't be found. She has spent three weeks in the hospital with "nerves." Tatiana's voice wobbles with every word. "You know, he was lucky when he arrived in the army. Just by chance, he landed in the exact regiment where his brother had been serving," she says. "People said, 'Hey! He looks just like Gryaznov!' It was a kind of euphoria for me. That meant that the other soldiers wouldn't abuse him. They wouldn't beat him because they already knew his brother. He would be protected. And it was true. They never beat him."
But they did beat another boy from the area. So badly that they brought him back to finish out his time close to home. Tatiana says, "That boy is a redhead. They hate redheads for some reason. It's like a tradition. They beat them." "I don't understand why they had to take my Andryusha so far away! They took his brother, already. And my husband, he did cleanup after Chernobyl. Those men weren't even given gloves for their hands - just masks over their faces. They were told to clean the waste with tractors. And they weren't supposed to take married men but my husband already had a wife and two children! There was the roof of one building that was so contaminated that Japanese robots refused to clean it. So they sent up the Russian men to do the job. And now Igor's health is spoiled." I look over at the small, dark-haired man who has been quietly going back and forth to the kitchen. "One thing you can say about my family," Tatiana adds, her voice lowering and losing its waver. "My husband and sons. They won't hide behind other people's backs."
Sasha
They didn't tell Sasha's group that it would be going to Chechnya. They sat the young boys on a train - and for a long while as they rocked through foreign landscapes, no one understood. The train went right to Grozny. And Sasha stayed there for a year. That was in 1995-96, during the "first" Chechen war. Now Sasha lives with his mother and father. The lespromkhoz (lumber company) recently hired him as a contract laborer and so things are looking up. Sasha's mother, Nadezhda, is in her forties with soft, sad eyes and long, reddish hair. Her kitchen is lit brightly as we sit and she serves tea and strawberry jam. Sasha's father is sick and lying in the living room watching TV. He doesn't greet his guests. Nadezhda's voice is even-toned and gently melodic as she speaks: "Sasha never had to shoot anyone. Never. He was a driver. That was his education, and that's how they used him. His truck was at the very end of the convoy, so he was shot at a lot. It was a dangerous job.
At one point, half of his group was killed." Sasha walks in the door. He is back from work and is carrying a plastic bag with his lunch leftovers in it. He goes into his room, spends a moment there, and leaves the house again. His face, in the shadow of the doorway, looks as though it were halfway sculpted into manliness. But there is a boy that remains in his afterimage. His mother continues, "There was a terrible story there." She pauses, deciding whether or not to tell it. "One day, an officer came to Sasha and said: 'Who is the driver here?' Sasha told him that he was. 'We've got to go and get the bodies. They need to be transported.' They were Russian bodies. Sasha drove there and was shown where the bodies were lying. There was a pile of them. They had to sort out their numbers. Had to find, by their numbers, who the soldiers were and where they belonged."
"Among the bodies, he found a number that matched his tent mate's. His friend. But he couldn't recognize him. The skin had been pulled up off his face. A knife had been plunged down into his neck." Sasha told his mother that there were peaceful Chechens, too. Ones who were kind to him. It was really only the contract soldiers, hired to fight in Chechnya, that the villagers hated. Not the ones drafted to fight, like him. "It took a long time for him to come to himself when he got back. Most of the time, the boys would arrive home from the war and start drinking. They had some money and would spend it all rightaway on alcohol or whatever. Before, when men came home from wars, there was cheering and shouting. They were heroes. But these boys just come back. And there is nothing here for them. Nothing."
I ask if there would have been any way for him to have avoided going to Chechnya. In big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, mothers can pay doctors or bureaucrats to make their sons ineligible. The well-connected can get around the problem without money. The question is nearly incomprehensible to Nadezhda. She says, "It's not as if he didn't want to serve. He did. When they gave him a physical, they weren't going to take him because there was some small problem with his health. They offered him a place where he would just dig ditches. But he didn't want that. He said, 'I will go and serve in the army.' All his friends served." These provincial boys are proud to wear their uniforms and there is an idea that being a soldier is how you become a man - one who is self-possessed and self-controlled. And who wants to forfeit that for ditch-digging? "But our family suffered," Nadezhda says. "It's terrifying to have sons. That's all I can say."
Zhenya and Vitya
The fishing village of Maeksa is a few miles from Belozersk. On the way there, I pass a small port and boats frozen in the ice under thick blankets of white. It is snowing and the sky is a luminous haze. There is young man outside cutting wood at the Rukamoinikov house - a large log cabin, typical of the kind found in rural Russia. I go to the door and am invited in by Ludmila, who is tall and strong, as Russian women can be. We sit down in a large, neat room. There is a huge pair of antlers mounted on a wall. Behind the glass of a bookcase are three photographs in a row: two portraits of young soldiers and one of a group of men in a darkened forest, smiling triumphantly over a sprawling dead elk. Ludmila has two sons and they both have been to war. The first, Vitya, served in the first Chechen war, and the second son, Zhenya, just recently got back from the second. Zhenya, his mother tells me, was in the thick of things. He had to shoot artillery. At one point, his artillery truck burst into flames, but he and his companions survived.
Zhenya is back home now, but he has not yet returned to the world of the living. He is still raw and wavering in and out of the death that surrounded him. "He has finally slept the night for two nights now," Ludmila says. "Since he got back, he has been waking up screaming and grabbing at his leg, to reach his gun." Vitya, the older boy who no longer lives at home, also came back from the war on edge. He was full of "nerves" and it was hard for him to readapt. "If you said one wrong word to him, he would slam the door and leave. He found work right after he got back, at the prison," - there is an island prison in the middle of White Lake where the worst and most dangerous offenders in the country are sent - "but they fired him after two years. For his nerves and his angry, erratic behavior."
"So I will give Zhenya time to find work," his mother says. "Give him some time to come back to himself." Zhenya is going hunting shortly with his friends, so Ludmila feeds him a meal of borscht, made with meat from a freshly slaughtered piglet, and then potatoes and fresh fish, before he leaves. When he comes in, I can see his face for the first time. It is a nice, young face. His eyes look tired to me, but there is some trace of tenderness there. I ask him some unobtrusive questions; the only ones that open him up a little are about his hunting today. He clearly doesn't want to talk. A photographer has come to take his picture, so he obligingly puts on his uniform and moves outside. His mother fixes the angle of his beret. His eyes stare like lasers off into some point on the horizon.
Dima
"Ma! I just barely made it home!" A little boy, about 10, with thick glasses that are fogging up, flops dramatically on the couch still wearing his coat. "I ran 20 laps in gym. In seven minutes!" Lyuda, the boy's mother, praises him briefly and launches into the regular set of motherly instructions: "Get your coat off, say hello to the guests, we're going to eat, so wash up." He is her third and youngest son. Her middle son, dark-haired and with the very first hints of a mustache at 14, has been home from school for a little while already, quietly waiting for lunch. And Dima, her oldest at 20, is somewhere in the heart of Chechnya. I've been looking at lots of pictures of Dima. His mother says that he was always a happy boy - naughty and fun-loving and close to her - but I'm not sure I have ever seen sadder eyes on a child. Dima drives an armored vehicle that rolls on tank-like wheels, and has been shelling the Chechen boiviki (rebel fighters), who have gone running into the mountains for cover. He has not been in hand-to-hand combat, though, and for that reason his group has been relatively safe. Lyuda watches the news carefully. She knows the number of his vehicle, 804, and once saw it on TV. "I couldn't believe it," Lyuda says, "my mouth just hung open!"
Lyuda is small. She seems almost shrunken. In older photographs, she looks like an entirely different person - her face is round and robust and quietly spirited. And now she is all angles. Lyuda tells me what she can about Dima's combat, about Chechnya. "You know, Dima wrote me about the mountains." She recites some lines in a letter from him by heart: "The nature here is beautiful. I love their nature in Chechnya. I don't like the war, but by now, I am almost used to the shelling. It's almost as if it's necessary." Lyuda goes and gets one of his letters and sits down by a window and opens it: "Hello Mama, I'm not sick. I'm not far from Grozny. Mama, nothing has happened yet. The war days are still ahead for us. There are 30 people in our tent. There is a stove. We don't know when we are coming home. They promised to send us home for the New Year. I'm so sick of it. Every day, we go out to shoot. There are no dead yet among our company. Don't worry. I love you all. I kiss you. Hello to relatives and close ones. Dimka." Lyuda looks up and tells me that she cries every day.
"We sent a package for New Year's," Lyuda says. She goes into another room and brings out a small brown parcel. "It was returned. I don't know what that means. I had sent Dima gloves and socks and some candy for the New Year. I thought that he might eat candy on the holiday. His last letter was on January 12, but a friend of his from Belozersk who is already back saw him on the 16th of February. So I know that he was still alive then. We are expecting him any day now." Last year, in November, while Dima was already away, the family had a birthday party for him. They all got dressed up and made a big meal and took pictures and sent them to the missing boy. "This is silly," Dima wrote. "How can you have a birthday party for me without me?" "You are alive, you are healthy," his mother wrote him back. "That is our party." She grips one of the photos of Dima and stares at the image of her son. "My little boy," she says to no one but herself. "My little one."
Another Dima
It's 6 o'clock in the evening, and people are milling around after work and the sky has begun to settle into its twilight shades. Even at this distance, I can tell by the combat greens and browns and the puffy pants that it's him. Dima is just back from the hospital. He was wounded in a battle in the mountains of Chechnya. Like the other Dima, he wasn't really supposed to see combat. He was firing artillery off into the mountains and sometimes charged with guarding Chechen towns to prevent the escape of the boiviki who had been trapped inside. It wasn't his job to go in and "clean them out." The experienced contract soldiers and militia were supposed to do that.
On December 6, his group surrounded a village where the boiviki had been hiding among the locals. The militia was supposed to go in and weed out the rebels. But it started getting dark. And the militiamen simply changed their minds. So the young, inexperienced soldiers were left alone at nightfall to face an enemy that was desperate and determined to get out of the village and into the mountains. Dima was wounded in his head and hand that night. He didn't know that he was wounded right away. He saw the blood trickling down and only then did he understand. He was sent to an army hospital and he's better now, except that he doesn't see very well and there is a question of how he will ever find work.
Dima walks slowly up the road toward his mother, Galina, his form still blurred by distance. Galina, a large woman with sharp blue eyes and aviator glasses, had been businesslike in talking about her son when we first met, but as she tells his story her voice becomes warm and animated. Dima doesn't sleep at night. "Our son's room is above us. I hear him wake up every night and walk around. He listens to music and paces." In letters from Chechnya, he had written: "It is bad here. They feed us badly. Send me some sheets for New Year's. And mittens and socks. It's cold here." His mother and father went to fetch him in the hospital. "I asked him to tell me what had happened," Galina said. "Some of the other boys were talking a little. But he was silent. 'Mama,' he said, 'Don't ask me. I don't want to remember.' "
Dima's sergeant, though, wrote a letter to the family saying that he wanted to nominate Dima for a medal for courage: "If not for him, many of our boys would have been killed." But Galina says, "I don't care if he gets a medal. It's enough that he's alive." He's changed since he left, she says. "He is somewhere inside of himself. He was a mama's boy when he left. And he came back an adult. But Dima has never been hard or cruel. He has always been calm and controlled. And now he is, too." The young man walks up, and his face is nearly expressionless. His mother starts fussing over him right away - she takes the collar of his coat and closes it forcefully. His beret flies off and he cracks a tiny grin, trying to catch the cap before it falls.
I search his eyes. There is some life there. I ask some questions, nothing serious. And he talks a little, just a very little bit, with his eyes constantly returning to the ground. The mountains were beautiful, he says. And the locals weren't cruel to them. Fed them watermelon sometimes. Dima's hands are without gloves and are puffy and a little red in the cold. He is lighting a lighter over and over again inside the palms of his hands. I ask him about the other boys who have returned from the war. Do they see each other ever? Dima looks up, "Well, we're meeting - seven of us - tomorrow. Just getting together to talk. Maybe . . . maybe it will help." And I think of this boy being fed watermelon by the wives and daughters of Chechnya and how he was cold and afraid and hungry at night. And how he and his brothers-in-arms now share a nearly silent ghost language, pacing at night with visible and invisible war wounds that their own mothers can't heal. And how they drift, haunted, toward the white warmth of home.
Margaret Paxson is a research scholar at the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies.
END
Murderers Blame the Mujahideen for Their Crimes
By Artur Chantiv, Marsho ~ Dec. 16
It has become obvious in this state of sadist sides of killings that Russia and the whole Russian community got used to the Military conflict from some time now, they have reached a limit now where they don't want to get rid of the "Chechen" disease that has become attendant to their lives. In other words the romantic life of the Russians became unbearably dull without the "Conflict in the Caucasus" phenomena. So it's not in favor for the Russian militants to end the conflict in Chechnya. That war- is not a war, it's their source of living. That became obvious with what we saw in the Chechen village Alkhan-yurt which took lives of more than 21 human beings and injured more innocent citizens.
There's no doubt of the identity of the organizers of this ugly crime, although Russians are pointing fingers to as usual to the "Chechen Fighters" although there's no evidence to prove Chechen's participation in the accident. High tanking officers in the Russian army hurried to point the blame on Bsaev and Khattab for arranging the operation, and later on they blamed Arbi Baraev- one of the field commanders of the Chechen fighters - which one of the officers called "Baranov" described saying: " Arbi Baraev is one of the leaders of those gangs."
The known facts are that the vehicle is "Muscovich" type and was parked near a mosque and someone wearing Russian special forces uniform (OMON) and disappeared to an unknown direction. And right afterwards Russian federals arrived on a BTR armored vehicle and got some explosives out of the tank claiming the diffused the explosives in the tank and withdrew quickly, and right after that a big explosion shock the area killing 20 innocent people!! All this operation was sawn with exposed threads.
If we go back in our memory to the fuss made over the attack on Bislan Gantimirov's house - vice president of the pro-Russian former mufti Kadirov- in gekhy village where about one hundred armed and masked "fighters", as the Russian information center claimed and thus the pro-Russian mayor of the Chechen capital blamed the "fighters" , it should be noted that Gantimirov owns his own Informative channels, much thinking is not needed to conclude that the former mufti "Kadirov" is behind these attacks.
Federal forces quickly blamed and arrested one of the Pro-Russian Chechen police officers, and there's no doubt that he is the only one that could be blamed for the accident, for the Russian forces refused to hand over the arrested to the specialized areas. No wonder the body of this poor policeman was found in a ditch. Afterwards the Russian militants showed a tape containing "honest confessions" of this poor man. Today no one dares to say that those Russian militants have not used ways of physical and mental terror!
Although in the meeting held by Alkhan-yurt villagers no one blamed the "fighters" for the crime, not because they sympathize with them, but because they know the true side of this tragedy. The appeal from the villagers to the Russian president Putin asking him to make a full investigation on this tragic incident makes it clear that "Russsian hands" were undeniably involved in it. What was the criminals purpose of wearing Russian militants outfits is unkown, there's a doubt about their mental state of mind, for this crime had no justification. If we don't put in mind the Russian plans to terrorize Chechens we can only call it Crazy.
END
Official Russian Casualties: Juggling with False Figures
Prague Watchdog ~ Dec. 14
Russian authorities manipulate even the already false numbers of casualties among federal forces in Chechnya. Casualty numbers are often used by a combating party to demonstrate its successful operations and influence public opinion. So why might it prove useful to keep track of the officially reported numbers of casualties? Because sooner or later these either confirm or question the information provided. On September 13, 2000 Prague Watchdog published within its coverage of the information war a comparative report on casualties officially announced by either of the combating parties. They were the numbers provided by Chechen sources (KavkazCenter, Azzam Publications, and others), the Russian sources (General Staff, ITAR-TASS, AVN and others), and sometimes also international news agencies and organizations (BBC, AP, Reuters and others). Following are a few comments on the Russian casualty numbers. For example, one of the last well-documented statements by the Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff, Gen. Manilov, dates back to August 3:
Russian soldiers killed: 2,585
Russian soldiers wounded: 7,505
Chechen rebels killed: 13,000
Chechen civilians killed: 1,000
Between August 10 and October 5 the General Staff of the Russian Army informed the public about weekly losses on the Russian side: Week Killed (Defense + Interior) Wounded (Defense + Interior) Source
Aug 10 - 17 38 (22+16) 116 (79+37) MoD, CTK
Aug 17 - 24 17 (7+10) 52 (27+25) GAS, ITAR
Aug 18 - 31 15 50 Manilov
Aug 31 - Sep 7 19 90 MoD
Sep 7 - 14 9 66 MoD
Sep 14 - 21 19 51 MoD
Sep 28 - Oct 4 20 48 Manilov
Oct 1, 1999 - Oct 4, 2000 2472 (1644+828) 7076 (4603+2473) Manilov
The history of two months shows that officially every month some 65 Russian soldiers were killed and 220 wounded on average. According to Manilov's statement of August 3, the number in late September should stand at around 2,700 killed and 7,900 wounded. Manilov, however, changed the initial date for counting to arrive at lower numbers. Fighting in Dagestan started in August 1999, Chechnya campaign was launched on September 1, but Manilov indicates October 1 as the initial day for his counts.
Thus on Oct 4, 2000 Gen. Manilov came out with 2,472 killed (of which 1,644 were servicemen of the Interior Ministry) and 7,076 wounded. One and a half month later, on Nov 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of 2,600 (1,670) dead. Compared to Manilov's statement of August 3 (2,585 dead), this sounds very unrealistic. Still, we do not know what date Putin meant was the initial date for "his" count. An important and recurring feature of manipulation with casualty numbers is obvious here: Shuffeling with numbers includes also shuffeling with dates.
Starting from early October the Russian Defense Ministry stopped publishing weekly information on casualties in early October, apparently for two reasons: - the information became contradictory in such an obvious way and was questioned so much that it lost the last rests of trustworthiness and it proved better not to provide any information at all - despite various statements made by Russian generals, politicians, and pro-Russian administration in Chechnya, no end to the military operations was in sight, meaning that the total casualties would keep increasing for an unknown period of time.
This and other cases of juggling with figures are not only embarrassing but also absurd at the same time because the official numbers of casualties simply do not correspond with the truth. As stated in our previous article, the numbers reported by the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia (UCSMR) are much higher than the official figures. Current estimates of the UCSMR double the official counts provided by the Russian army officials. The statement of the UCSMR on casualty counts in the second Chechen war can be found here (below).
Once again, the reason for putting these numbers together is to document the evidence of the Russian authorities' manipulation of public opinion. But the numbers mean real people who lost their lives for the course of their leaders. Here is a list of dead Russian soldiers, which had been published by the UCSMR in Russian military weekly Nezavisimoye Voennoye Obozreniye. We publish this list because every wasted human life is a tragedy, regardless of the ethnicity or the nationality of the person. The list of all human lives that have been wasted in the conflict would be much longer. However, such a list will never be put together.
A Comment on Casualty Counts in the Second Chechen War
What is the difference between official statistics and real casualties among Russian forces?
The Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia ~ Dec. 14
The Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia (UCSMR) estimates that the real numbers of losses in the second war in Chechnya are at least twice as high as those presented by officials (the same was happening virtually throughout the first campaign in Chechnya).
The UCSMR's counts are based on the following:
1. facts given by regional soldiers' mothers organisations (contradicting statistics that military authorities introduce and actual numbers coming from "burial" regions);
2. information received from the Centre of Forensic Medicine in Rostov (contradicting officially admitted daily losses and the number of killed soldiers transported to the Centre for identification);
3. the flawed system of counting casualties Commanders who give the number of fatalities among their subordinates can list only those having died in the field and with clearly established identity. Soldiers wounded and killed when being transported or those who died at the place of medical service are not counted in official figures; they are listed in separate medical statistics. The total number, officially presented by the military authorities, does not include this category of casualties. What is more, due to various circumstances, missing in action, captured or killed soldiers, whose remains are not found, or the bodies of "soldiers forgotten" for various reasons in the field, are automatically included in the category of "consciously deserting their troops". Consequently, these also cannot be found in official statistics.
4. it is important to be aware of the fact that the military commanders undoubtedly want the number of losses to be as low as possible, for their figures are presented to their superiors; as a matter of fact, military departments seek just the same, as each of them does its own statistics (the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, frontier-guards, railway-guards etc.). As a result, while counting human resource losses in total, it is necessary to consider the following aspects:
1. Estimates primarily depend on an individually accepted methodology of actual counting. The UCSMR counts all sorts of casualties linked to the war in Chechnya.
2. There are no exact number of losses at any moment. Collecting precise figures is a long process. Experience shows that the estimates of public organisations and those of the soldiers' mothers in particular are far closer to reality than the official versions of the military authorities. When the first war in Chechnya began, members of the UCSMR handed over their statistics to the General Staff. The list included more than 700 captured and missing in action soldiers, exceeding official military figures by a factor of ten.
3. The disputes over losses as well as the official declarations of casualties by the military authorities suggest that the statements of soldiers' mothers organisations have had a significant impact on public opinion. At the moment, military departments are making eager efforts to prove that they take extreme care of their soldiers and attempt to limit the number of casualties. In addition, the present system of counting and competition among individual military structures as well as secrecy about the total number of soldiers "undergoing" the military campaign in the federal army in the northern Caucasus and Chechnya in particular (i.e. those who serve in Chechnya permanently as well as those sent on their missions for a fixed time and replaced by other troops), raise the possibility of significant casualty underestimating on the "Russian side". An important fact, making loss estimates difficult, is an information embargo on the total numbers of the distribution of federal forces in the northern Caucasus, particularly in Chechnya.
The situation gets even worse when it comes to counting casualties on the Chechen side. As a rule, military authorities overstate the number of killed guerrillas and underestimate casualties among civilians at the same time. Nobody really knows the true number of killed, with each side giving false information in conformity with their political and propagandist aims. The UCSMR made attempts to offer Aslan Maskhadov their own technique of counting losses at the time of the first Chechen war. However, this proved impossible to realize.
An EXAMPLE (a hypothetical one) showing the possibility of federal casualty underestimation: A group of ten soldiers was ambushed:
1 - killed, the body was found and transported
1 - captured in the fight, unaccounted for after the fight, killed while in captivity
1 - killed, no remains found
1 - seriously injured, evacuated by helicopter, died immediately after transport
1 - suffering shell-shock, transported to a field hospital, released from army then died of unforeseen shell-shock consequences at home
1 - deserted the field, having taken shelter in woods, died of starvation and cold
1 - drafted in a bad condition, evacuated from the field to a hospital, died of an illness
2 - survived
As a result, the commander gives his superiors the following figures:
1 - killed
3 - injured (including the shell-shocked)
In fact, the real losses total eight soldiers in this case. The UCSMR estimates that from August 2, 1999 to December 1, 2000 the total number of killed soldiers in the northern Caucasus reached six thousand and the wounded from 12 to 15 thousand.
I. Kuklina
UCSMR Translated by Prague Watchdog
***********************************************************
The Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia (UCSMR), until 1999 called the Commitee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia (CSMR), is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization protecting the rights of recruits, conscripts and their families. During the first Chechen war (1994-96) the CSMR was one of the major activists against the Russian campaign that contributed significantly to the change in the public opinion in Russia, and, eventually, to the end of the war. The UCSMR may be contacted as follows:
Luchnikov pereulok 4 Entrance 3, Room 5 101000 Moscow Phone: (095) 9282506 Fax: (095) 2068958 E-mail: usm@glasnet.ru
END
Rebel Leader Distances Chechnya From Wave of Georgia Kidnappings
(AFP) ~ Dec. 13
Chechen rebel president Aslan Maskhadov has sought to dispel international concern at Chechen links to a wave of kidnappings in Georgia by vowing to strip those involved of their citizenship, media reported here Wednesday. Newspapers published in Georgia, which borders Chechnya, carried a statement from Maskhadov that all crimes, including kidnapping, carried out by ethnic Chechens in Georgia were "crimes against the Chechen nation." Maskhadov said he was speaking out because the Russian authorities were seeking to sow discord between Chechens and Georgians by recruiting Chechens to undertake criminal acts in the former Soviet republic.
Last week Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze decreeed a state of emergency in northeastern Georgia, heavily populated by Chechens, after a wave of kidnappings. Six men, including a Russian and two Spanish businessmen, are currently being held hostage in the Pankiyski gorge, labelled Georgia's crime capital, where some 10,000 Chechens live. Meanwhile, two UN military observers abducted last weekend in the buffer zone between Georgia and its northwestern separatist region of Abkhazia were still being held Wednesday after the kidnappers failed to deliver on a pledge to release them overnight.
Two Spanish businessmen, Jose Antonio Tremino and Francisco Rodriguez, were abducted on their way to Tbilisi airport on November 30 by four masked and armed men, who were reported to speak with Chechen accents. Addressed to his "Georgian brothers and sisters," Maskhadov's statement -- dated December 5 but only now released -- said kidnapping "should be regarded as a crime against the Chechen nation." He added that any Chechens found responsible "should be stripped and the death penalty pronounced. "The lack of punishment by other governments, such as Georgia's, is not a mitigating circumstance," he added. He urged all Chechens in Georgia to hand over criminals to the Georgian police.
Half of the Chechens settled in the Pankiyski gorge many years ago, while the rest are thought to be refugees from the 14-month war in Russia's breakaway republic.Russia has repeatedly accused Tbilisi of allowing up to 2,000 Chechen rebels, currently based in the gorge, to move freely across the 80-kilometre (50-mile) mountainous border, and earlier this week imposed a visa regime between the two countries. The Georgian interior ministry has voiced its exasperation at the latest wave of kidnappings, noting the hostages were being held "in remote parts" of the former Soviet republic. "It is very difficult to predict this type of kidnapping and therefore to combat such phenomena," interior ministry spokeswoman Maya Mosidze told AFP on Monday.
END
Love Reaches Over Chechen Battle Lines
By Mark Franchetti, The Sunday Times ~ Dec. 11
They fell in love at first sight across a market stall in Chechnya, but Indira Dudurkayeva, 19, and Sergei Goncharov, 25, came from different worlds. She was a native of the breakaway republic. He was a Russian soldier who had fought there in two bloody wars. Only by taking terrible risks could they be together. Goncharov smuggled her out of Chechnya in a military vehicle and took her hundreds of miles away to the southern Russian town of Krasnodar, where they were married.
Now, 10 months later, Dudurkayeva is in fear of her life: by marrying a Russian soldier who is also a non-Muslim, she has brought shame on her family and her village. If she is found, the penalty will be death. According to the strict moral code of the Chechens, her relatives have no choice but to kill her if they are to clear the name of their clan. "They will never forgive me for falling in love and marrying Sergei," Dudurkayeva said last week as she played a videotape of her wedding in the tiny room in Krasnodar where they now live.Dudurkayeva was working at a market in Tolstoy-Yurt, a small town close to Grozny, the bombed-out Chechen capital, when her life was transformed. It was a late January day, at the height of a bitter war that had claimed thousands of victims.
Goncharov, a Siberian who had fought as a conscript in the Chechen war of 1994-96, had returned as a career soldier for the second campaign. He caught her eye as he bought a bottle of beer during a break from patrolling the streets. He visited her every day for the next three weeks. "We were very careful not to show our feelings to anyone," Goncharov said. "Of course we both knew that we were playing with fire. Had anyone understood that I wasn't coming to the market just to stock up on provisions, Indira's life and mine would have been in severe danger."
Then, on a freezing February day, Goncharov told her that his battalion was leaving. He asked her to go with him and get married. She knew that to do so would be to defy her family and turn her back on her strict Muslim upbringing. "Sergei told me this was our only chance," she said. "I told my sister, the only person who knew that Sergei and I had fallen in love. She warned me that if I left with him it would be for ever and that there would be no return. "I left carrying only the clothes I was wearing, without money, personal possessions, not even my passport. I couldn't even say goodbye to my mother. If anyone had understood what was happening, Sergei and I could have been killed."
It took 10 days to get out of Chechnya. Hiding from Goncharov's commanding officers and from her relatives, Dudurkayeva was kept first in a tent at a Russian base. She was then smuggled onto his convoy, hiding in the back of a tank transporter, and finally was concealed in a military train carrying troops across the border. The danger was not only of being discovered by the Russians: there was a risk that the convoy would be ambushed by Chechen rebels. "It was a scary journey," Dudurkayeva said. "I was terrified that my relatives, especially my elder brother, would come looking for me. I was also apprehensive about the future, about leaving everything behind, but I love Sergei and I trusted him."
Once outside Chechnya, the couple were briefly detained by the army and Goncharov was severely reprimanded. For weeks afterwards they had nowhere to live, moving flats several times in fear of Chechens seeking revenge. They married in the summer. Dudurkayeva received Russian papers and the local authority provided a home: a dilapidated room lacking proper heating or sanitation, with a bed that rests precariously on a wooden crate.
Despite the miserable conditions and the uncertainty of their future, Dudurkayeva says she does not regret her choice. "I had relaxed a bit since coming here, but last week I bumped into an old neighbour who is now a refugee," she said. "He told me that if I hadn't been on a bus surrounded by people, he would have killed me. He was deadly serious and I was terrified." To her husband's dismay, Dudurkayeva plans to return to Chechnya briefly to make peace with her sick mother. "I hope that at least she can begin to forgive me," she said. "As long as nobody else sees me or hears that I have gone back, I think I will be all right. I must try to explain to her that I left because it was the only way to be with the man I love."
At least 22 civilians, many of them children and teenagers, were killed and 52 injured when a car bomb exploded in a market in the south-eastern Chechen district of Urus-Martan. Russian authorities blamed the blast on separatist rebels.
END
By Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor ~ Dec. 11
In an operation local residents say is typical in Russian-controlled areas, men in camouflage uniforms and black ski masks arrived in an unmarked armored vehicle on Mozdokskaya Street in Grozny, the Chechen capital, and whisked away 10 people. Among the detainees were Haji Said-Alwi Gakayev's three daughters, who have not been heard from since the incident last June. "I brought them up to be cosmonauts, but I don't know if they have gone to heaven yet or not," says the white-bearded Mr. Gakayev, tilting his traditional red-velvet hat forward in resignation.
A Muslim spiritual leader in Gudermes, the center of the Moscow-appointed Chechen administration in this breakaway southern republic, he now takes care of all eight of his grandchildren. "Every night I come home, and they ask, 'Where is Mama?' " Gakayev says. "And every night their grandfather starts weeping." Continued efforts to find his daughters - including letters to Russian President Vladimir Putin - have so far failed.
War's 'new phase'
Russian commanders say their acts are aimed at quashing separatist Islamic rebels. But as the 14-month Russian occupation of Chechnya grinds on, Russian forces have been using brutal methods against civilians - from summary executions to kidnapping, say rights groups, Chechens, and even some soldiers themselves. "The war ... has entered a new phase," said the Nobel Peace prize-winning humanitarian group Medecins sans Frontieres, in a late November report. "The Russian forces have transformed Chechnya into a vast ghetto," the report says. "In this ghetto, terror reigns ... every civilian is a suspect, and freedom of movement is denied. Each and every checkpoint is a 'Russian roulette' which puts their lives at stake."
It is known as bespredel, a Russian slang term that means excessive abuse of power, and, in Chechnya especially, "unlimited violence." "It's worse than I thought," says one young conscript at the main Russian base of Khankala, 10 miles east of Grozny, while eating a breakfast of tinned tuna and boiled buckwheat. "I thought this was a war, but it is bespredel." "No, no - keep that to yourself," warns an officer, apparently aware that Russia's image has been tarnished by persistent reports of Russian abuses here.
Critics have launched a chorus of complaints about alleged Russian atrocities since federal troops reentered Chechnya in September 1999, with the stated purpose of restoring law and order in a region that had fallen into lawlessness under Chechen rule. Russia's post-superpower prestige disintegrated at the hands of guerrillas in the first Chechen war of 1994-96. A sense of revenge, analysts say, has partly motivated Moscow's second campaign. So winning Chechen hearts and minds has not been a priority. Grozny's central market was entirely destroyed by Russian armored vehicles on Nov. 27 - this year, the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Rebel attacks are expected to increase at this time. Pro-Moscow Chechen authorities say that in November alone, 18 Russian soldiers were killed in or disappeared from the market. But Muslims traditionally end daytime fasting during Ramadan with a feast, and the market was an important source of food and income for thousands.
Russian forces have largely pushed the separatist fighters out of Grozny and into the snow-covered mountains along the southern border with Georgia. Moscow is aiming to cut back troop strength to about 25,000, down from 90,000 at the beginning of the year. The price of continued conflict has been high for civilians. Acts of violence are "designed to humiliate civilians: arbitrary executions and mopping-up operations, arrests and disappearances, extortion and racketeering of cadavers," last month's report by Medecins sans Frontieres notes. Officially, more than 10,000 Chechens were arrested in the first five months of the year alone.
Detailing severe beatings and the impunity with which federal forces operate here, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch reported in October on the "cycle of torture and extortion faced by thousands of Chechens whom Russian forces have detained in Chechnya."
Caught in the middle
Testimony is not hard to find, even on a brief visit to Chechnya organized by Russian officials. "People are being exterminated by federal forces - that is the truth," says a woman who works for the pro-Moscow administration in Gudermes. Two of her nephews have disappeared. But she is no supporter of the rebels, either, having been held hostage for eight months in 1998 by kidnappers linked to a Chechen warlord. "Troops catch everybody, military or not - they just disappear," she says. "It's bespredel, like the extermination of the nation. If it keeps going on, all the people will either be exterminated, or they will rise up."
Some senior officers are not convinced. "We have declared an amnesty [for rebels deemed not to have been involved in crimes], so state officials do not want them exterminated," says Col. Igor Yegiazarov, commander of Russian forces in northern Chechnya. "As for the mass execution of the Chechen people, I have not ever seen that. It's better to talk to the Chechens themselves," Colonel Yegiazarov says. "I do know of officers and generals who tried to prevent local murders and looting [by soldiers]. If things like [bespredel] happen, then the guilty will have to be responsible before a criminal court, like any other army in the world."
Extreme measures from Moscow are not unknown to Chechnya. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin - accusing Chechens of supporting Nazi Germany in World War II - ordered the mass uprooting of the entire Chechen population to Siberia in 1944, an event still remembered annually on Deportation Day. The pro-Moscow administration has warned Russian troops that abuses further undermine their tenuous credibility. "We have certain problems with federal troops, but we know the Army is against a very cunning enemy," says Abdullah Bugayev, a deputy administrator in Gudermes. The administration pursues some cases of wrongful detention.
For instance, Gakayev says the mayor of Gudermes is helping to find his three daughters. "I wouldn't dramatize it," Mr. Bugayev says, when asked about bespredel. He notes that several pro-Moscow officials have been killed, some brutally: "You can't just look at one side." Conditions on the ground are tough for young soldiers, who often say they were lured by promises of high combat pay. "This is a dirty war, people shoot you in the back," says one Russian soldier, leaning over a fire at dusk at the muddy Khankala camp. "There is no heroic fighting, like in a real, classic war. There is nothing romantic at all."
END
Alkhan-Yurt Residents Appeal to Russian President, Chechen Administration
(Interfax) ~ Dec. 10
Residents of the village of Alkhan-Yurt in Chechnya, who on Sunday gathered to attend the burial of those killed in the December 9 terrorist attack, have made an appeal to be addressed to the Russian president and the military and civilian administration of Chechnya. "The car in Alkhan-Yurt on Saturday was stuffed with explosives and left there by a well-known bandit serving in the Chechen interior department's special police unit," the appeal reads. The document does not specify the name of that person. "The tragedy was made possible because of unskilled actions by the military" who tried to disarm the explosive device planted in the Moskvich car, the authors wrote.
The villagers urged the president "to purge the Russian Interior Ministry's department for Chechnya and its branches of bandits, who have penetrated its ranks, and officials who contributed to this." The Alkhan-Yurt residents read the appeal to the Main Military Commandant of Chechnya, Lt. Gen. Ivan Babichev, who has been in Alkhan-Yurt since this morning, and requested that he pass it on to Moscow. "Those who committed this act will answer to the fullest possible extent of the law," Babichev said. "Take my word that the bandits will be brought to justice." Head of the Alkhan-Yurt administration Ramzan Vakhidov, who read the appeal at his fellow-villagers' request, and his deputy Suleiman Makhmatkhadzhiyev refuse to name the police officer they accuse of the terrorist attack, noting only that "information on this person was reported to the prosecutor, the military commandant and head of interior department of Chechnya today."
END
Russia's Hold on Chechnya is Seen as Tenuous
(AP) ~ December 10
At least four people have been arrested in connection with a car bombing that killed over 20 Chechen civilians, around half of them children, in the breakaway republic. The bomb exploded near a mosque in the village of Alkhan-Yurt, just south of the Chechen capital Grozny on Saturday. Russian officials called it a terrorist act and were quick to point the finger at Chechen rebels. Four people, one carrying the identity card of a Chechen police officer, have been detained in Alkhan-Yurt on suspicion of setting up the attack, the army's first deputy chief of staff told the Interfax news agency. "This fact proves the rebels are trying to place their people in the Chechen law-enforcement agencies," said Colonel General Valery Manilov. The blast's death toll rose to 21 on Sunday, with four more victims dying in a hospital in the neighbouring town of Urus-Martan, the hospital's chief doctor Ruslan Visarigov told Interfax. The same day seventeen victims were being buried in Alkhan-Yurt.
Children among bomb victims
About half the dead were children, Ramzan Vakhidov, head of the local administration, told Interfax. Chechen rebels attacked Russian facilities more than 20 times over the weekend, killing four Russian servicemen and wounding 11, according to an official of the pro-Moscow administration in Chechnya. Another two soldiers were killed when their armoured personnel carrier struck a landmine outside Grozny, the official said. Chechen rebels stage daily attacks on Russian checkpoints and Chechen civilian administrative buildings, but casualties are usually small and usually target Russian troops or pro-Moscow Chechen officials.
The attacks underline Russia's shaky hold on the region, even after more than a year of war and repeated claims that the rebels are near defeat. The rebels won de facto independence in a 1994-96 war. But Russian forces rolled back into Chechnya in September 1999, after rebels raided the neighbouring Russian region of Dagestan and a series of apartment bombings in three Russian cities killed some 300 people, which Moscow blamed on the rebels. Since then, at least 2,500 Russian troops have been killed.
END
Moscow Boosts "Anti-Terrorist" Drive as Chechnya Buries Dead*
(AFP) ~ Dec. 10
A small Chechen village began burying its dead Sunday from one of the worst single attacks on civilians in the 14-month war, as Moscow tried to recover from another setback in its campaign against separatist rebels in the breakaway republic. Twenty-one people died Saturday after a powerful car bomb ripped through a square near the mosque in Alkhan-Yurt, south of the capital Grozny. Doctors in the Urus-Martan district hospital fought all night to try and save the lives of 22 injured villagers, but lost four of their patients.
Security services had received a tip-off and detonated one explosive device earlier in the day but another bomb was hidden under the bonnet of the same car and exploded as villagers looked on. "In one night, we used up a whole month's supply of blood, bandages and medicine and the last few operations had to be carried out without the use of an anaesthetic," chief doctor Ruslan Visarigov told Interfax news agency. Russian President Vladimir Putin's presidential envoy to the southern federal district encompassing Chechnya, General Viktor Kazantsev, denounced the rebels for not respecting the Islamic holy month of Ramadan by "causing death and destruction."
"It is obvious that nothing is sacred to the terrorists, they are showing that they have nothing in common with Islam or the Holy Koran," Kazantsev was quoted as saying by Interfax. However a spokesman for the rebels, Movladi Udugov, accused the Russians of being behind the attack. "This terrorist act aimed at Chechen civilians was committed by Russian forces. We have dozens of witnesses proving they planted the mine in the vehicle," Udugov told AFP. "We categorically deny the accusations that Chechens were behind the attack," he said.
The Russian military arrested four Chechens for the bombing and said it had been masterminded by rebel field commanders Khattab and Shamil Basayev, as well as ousted president Aslan Maskhadov. Udugov said he represented Basayev, but would not say whether he was also speaking on behalf of Maskhadov. One of the arrested men, who were all in their 20s, was believed to be a member of the Chechen unit of the OMON, Russia's elite paramilitary force, the deputy chief of the Russian general staff, General Valery Manilov, told Interfax. "This proves that the rebels are trying to enter the ranks of the Chechen police," he was quoted as saying by the news agency.
Grozny mayor Bislan Gantamirov had earlier accused the top pro-Moscow civilian head in Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, of appointing separatist fighters in his administration. Kadyrov had fought on the side of the separatists in the previous 1994-6 war. The attack was one of a series of bomb blasts in the North Caucasus that began on Friday, the day Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo announced Moscow's intention to wipe out the remaining 1,500 rebels within the next three months. The top Russian military commander in Chechnya, General Ivan Babichev, promised Alkhan-Yurt villagers Sunday that a police station comprising local residents would be added to a planned military garrison of about 40 servicemen. Babichev also said that a list of suspected rebels would be posted in every town and village to prevent their infiltration. Russia said Friday it planned to deploy permanent garrisons in 200 of Chechnya's 375 towns and villages in order to protect the local population and their administrative leaders.
Separatist fighters have been actively carrying out punishment attacks against so-called Chechen "collaborators," particularly targetting local pro-Moscow administrators, including the former head of Alkhan-Yurt, who was assassinated by rebels last summer. Meanwhile, rebel fighters continued to attack federal positions late Saturday, killing three soldiers and wounding at least 11, the Russian North Caucasus military command told Interfax.
Three people died Friday when nearly simultaneous blasts ripped through two cars parked some 150 metres (500 feet) apart in the centre of Pyatigorsk in the Stavropol region, which borders Chechnya. And nine Russian soldiers were wounded -- one died later in hospital -- when a truck loaded with some five tonnes of explosive drove into an interior ministry base in Gudermes, in a rebel suicide attack. Udugov said separatist fighters had carried out the suicide attack in Gudermes, but that 32 soldiers had been killed and almost 150 injured. He also claimed that 11 civilians had died in southern Chechnya in bombing by the Russian airforce.
END
At Christmas, Just Think For a Second...
By P. Jendroszczyk, Rzeczpospolita ~ Nov. 30
The refugees from Chechnya, not even mentioning people from Grozny, are in bigger need then those in Kosovo. But Kosovo has had much more access to the media. Besides, Chechnya is very often identified with terrorism.
A LIFE - FOR A FEW DOLLARS
On the faces of children from a camp, very seldom one can see a smile, but many of them are haunted by nightmares from the recent past, sounds of shootings, explosions, wandering life and shortage of food. In the camp of Chechen refugees "Morning" in Ingushetia, a "Polish" daycare is working. It's been established thanks to the effort of the Polish Humanitarian Action (Polska Akcja Humanitarna). It can bee seen that Ramzan Vidayev hasn't washed himself a long time. He's dirty, tired and resigned. He's sitting on a sofa in a bureau of the Polish Humanitarian Action in Nazran - Ingushetia and is explaining that he can't live in the overcrowded tents of Chechen refugees like himself any more. His all possessions, that were taken with all the hardships, inspite of endangering his life from bombed Grozny, burnt a month ago. The next tragedy hit his family in a camp for refugees - "Sputnik", where he was living. It happened at night. A gas stove in Vidayev's tent, suddenly had changed to a column of fire, probably because of a rapid increase of gas pressure. A second later, the whole tent was burning.
A similiar tragedy was taking place in two neighbouring tents. Ramzan, his wife and five children rushed to escape, but pieces of burning canvas were wrapping around them like ivy. The man pushed his children outside. Then, he heard his wife screaming. A gown, made from nylon was burning on her. When he dragged her out, she was already unconcious. Doctors weren't giving much hope, that she survives. The burnt woman was taken care of by an Ingush "paramedic" Fatima Blokova, who somehow saved her. Fatima came to the bureau of the Polish Humanitarian Action together with Ramzan with a request for help. Ramzan's family has already got a new tent, but still doesn't have a stove, any dishes and even very important in the camp's life, a pail for water. Maria Gozdecka - Mimka, as everyone calls her here, who's managing the bureau of PHA in Nazran also doesn't have those things. But, she knows some representatives of other organisations who can help.
A few telephone calls and after 20 minutes, we're going to the Red Cross for a new, safe stove. It's already waiting for us. We're hardly made it, just in time before a warehouse of the German organization HELP closed. There, Ramzan picks up his longed-for water pail, plastic containers, a kettle, matresses, bunch of toothbrushes, some washing detergent and a big box of woman's hygienic pads. He doesn't need all those toothbrushes and pads in such a quantities. But, he's taking everything. Things not needed, can be sold on the bazaar for cash.
Ramzan is lucky that he found Mimka. Similiarly as Zula Elmuzayeva, 42-old Chechen woman with breast cancer, who's Mimka found in one of the camps in Chechnya. Zula was dying, because she didn't have money to travel to a hospital in Rostov-on Don, where at one time she was undergoing treatment. Mimka, together with Janina Ochojska - the chief manager of the PHA, took Zula with her husband to the bureau in Nazran, a week ago. The next day, the were sent by train to the hospital in Rostov. " The life of this woman was worth a few dollars. That's the cost of a train ticket" - says Janina Ochojska, who phoned the hospital in Rostov and found out, that Zula's life can still be saved. In the Chechen camp three children are waiting for her.
The mission of the Polish Humanitarian Action in Nazran is taking cases like Ramzan's and Zula's apart from conducting a normally planned, detaily programmed work , written on several pages projects confirmed by sponsors. Without this and all bunch of documents you can't work, but if you're helping thousands of people touched by this misery, it's impossible to be unaffectionate to the tragedies of particular persons.
It's not easy to find money
The Polish Humanitarian Action is present in Ingushetia from February of this year. It started as the food convoys. Janina Ochojska knows these areas pretty well, way back from the time of the first Chechen war. The bureau of the PHA in Nazran has been established in the spring. The Action is conducting four humanitarian help programs in Grozny. Several trucks are hauling drinking water free. That's the only drinkable water in the whole city. It's been being filtrated from a water line, that one part is supplying water to the city from a water intake in Chernorechye. The filter system was given by a Swedish humanitarian organization. The PHA is paying wages from it's own funds to the truck drivers and for the tankers. The filter gives 120 cubic meters of water every day. That's a drop in the sea.
The second program of the PHA is to organize feeding of the sick in the Grozny's hospitals. A kitchen building of the #9 Hospital has been already repaired and soon meals will be prepared and delivered to the other hospitals. A word - "hospital" in Grozny's circumstances that's actually a misconception. Ochojska's organization is also trying to open a daycare in Grozny. Own monies is not enough, but other organization like UNICEF or World Food Program are helping."We need roughly 5,500 dollars per month for the realization of all the programs" - thinks Ochojska. The problem of getting money in Poland for Chechnya is huge. "During eight months, till this summer, we've collected only 400,000 zlotys (approx. 90,000 USD - M.L.).
For comparison, for the aid of the refugees from Kosovo we had collected not even in a month - 1,5 million zlotys (340,000 USD)- she says. In her belief, refugees from Chechnya, not even mentioning people from Grozny, are in the bigger need. But, Kosovo had much more access to the media. That's one reason. The second is , that Chechnya is identified with terrorism in Poland. - "When we were doing the collecting, two Polish women were hold hostages in Chechnya. I even had telephone calls, that I was robbing Poland and hauling the loot to Chechnya" - says Ochojska.
Mimka in Nazran
Mimka or Maria Gozdecka is coordinating the whole program of the PHA in the Caucasus. She talks about herself reluctantly. She's been working since this February in Nazran. The first she came to Russia as a tourist ten years ago. She was at that time, a little bit more than 20 years old, looking for a place in her life. After that she travelled to Russia a few times more. She was helping in the rescue operation after the earthquake in Neftyegorsk on Sakhalin Island. She was cooperating with some American humanitarian organizations in the Urals. She had also established a small help organization for the East. She had settled even for a while in the Krasnodar region, where she bought a tiny house in the mountains. Her passion is the snowboarding. That's all what you can find about Mimka. She's been living in a rented by PHA house, in a district built by Slovaks a couple years ago. There is the bureau of the PHA, and also several other humanitarian organizations from all over the world. It doesn't mean that the aid is distributed efficiently and is reaching all the needy ones. The main barrier to get into Chechnya is the war, that's been going on there.
Nobody wants to risk. Shooting the trucks carrying the aid is not that rare. All the organizations from Nazran thus are helping the refugees in Ingushetia and sending aid to Grozny through different agencies. One of these is the PHA. Mimka not that long ago has set up a bureau in Grozny. That's a small room in the only one, half-ruined hospital in the city. In the rooms of the PHA in Nazran piles of books delivered by UNICEF. Mimka distributes them in the schools in Chechnya and in the refugee camps. In a text-book of the Russian language for the fourth grade.
There is a story about Natasha Kachuyevskaya, a heroic military nurse, who in 1942 in the fight with fascists blew herself up with a grenade after she had run out of bullets. " Why the Russians don't understand that we're fighting with them as they were fighting Germans ?" - children are asking Milana, a teacher in an orphanage in Pliyev, set up by the money of the German charitable organization Cap Anamur. But, the refugees don't understand many other things. Why the Russians have stopped the distribution of humanitarian aid, liquidated the field kitchens in the camps and in contrast to the period from the first Chechen war they're not distributing building materials, that people could return to their houses in Chechnya.
"It's true, they begun to pay pensions, but can the eight-person family survive on 560 roubles ( 20 USD - M.L.) of my father's pension?" - is asking a rhetorical question Rizvan, from the "Morning" camp. He can't afford to put timber floor in his tent. For now it's warm, all the time his gas stove is burning. At least they have electricity, TV set and a fridge. The family was able to move these goods under bombardment from Grozny. In the "Morning" camp there is a daycare for twenty children organized by the PHA. Three tents, a kitchen, food. The kids from the camp are spending a few hours there in the warmth. These are luxury conditions in comparison what's going on in Grozny.
....Petra in Grozny
"In the ruins of Grozny 60 - 70 thousands of people is living"- claims Patrik Koshicki from the Czech humanitarian organization " People in need" ("Clovek v tysni"). Patrik knows, what he is talking about, because this small Czech organization is delivering to Grozny threequarters of all the food aid. The rest is distributed by the Danish organization Danish Refugee Council, called here by all as"Datskiy Soviet". Without this assistance the people in the rubbles of Grozny would have died from hunger. The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations long time ago has quit on all the help for Chechnya.
On the lists of both organizations are around 60 thousands people. They both divided the city into four sectors, in which several points distributing food are working. A food ration, that's for example: 10 kg of flour, half kg of sugar, some edible oil, pasta, whatever is floorstocked at the very moment in a warehouse. These are the monthly portions. The Czechs are getting the merchandise from other organizations, mainly from the World Food Program. Nor this one and the other UN organizations can work according to the rules in Chechnya, because that's still the area of military operations and there is a possibility of putting life of persons involved in help in danger. The points of food distribution are surrounded from the early hours. Food is delivered by truck convoys from Ingushetia.
In the Groznyan district of Kalinino, the distribution of Danish food is taken care of by Petra Prohazkova, probably the most known journalist in the Czech Republic. Not that long ago, she's got a state award from president Vaclav Havel. But, that was for the journalistic work. She came to Moscow as a correspondent of "Lidove Noviny" eight years ago. Shortly after her Ph.D in philosophy, she was 25 that time. She had been to all sore spots in Russia, Abkhazia, Karabakh, Tajikistan and of course many times in Chechnya. She was crossing with her camera the Russian lines to find Maskhadov, Basayev and other fighters. At various times she was in deep troubles. Few months ago in Dagestan, a Russian armored personal carrier got destroyed by a mine, when she was travelling in it.
Miraculously, nothing happened to her. Her pictures and interviews were broadcasted on TV all over the world. The Russian authorities were trying to take away her acreditation. She told that on the popular Russian channel NTV. The story came into notice. She's stayed. She has closed her bureau in Moscow and left for Grozny in the spring. Using Caritas money she's rebuilt a small house in Kalinino. Today, there is a daycare for 25 children, orphans and from families in the worst material situation. Petra lives herself in a barrack, in the conditions not much better that thousands of Grozny's inhabitants have been living. Every morning she gets in her car she's brought from Moscow and goes to look for people who are not able to reach the food points. She's a special pass, only she knows how it's been obtained by her. She is looking for them in the basements, in the ruined houses. She brings what she finds in the warehouses. She is the only foreigner who lives permanently in Grozny. Why is she doing this? Somebody has to help these people.
"This will not done by the big organizations like the UN, WFP and others. They have been sitting in comfortable hotels in Vladikavkaz, in Moscow or Nazran, happy with their high salaries. That's beside the question" - she said being interviewed in the Czech TV. "I had a lot of difficulties because of that" - she recalls. We are talking in her barrack in the late evening in Kalinino. Behind the window an electric generator is rattling. Ingenious Chechens converted it to work on city gas, that's been brought to this place. But, even this noise can't deaden the series of shootings from machine guns and sounds of distant explosions. Nobody pays any attention to it.
Every day is like this. Nobody even moves, when Petra's body guard, a policeman from Bislan Gantamirov's unit is hunting an exceptionally big rat in the middle of the night. "It's not easy to work here. The desperate people don't understand, that we're not able to help all of them. It happens, that they're screaming profanities on us. There is no shortage of macabre rumors, that in our daycare we're selecting children for their sale abroad, to kill them there to sell their organs. Also, they are different surrealistic situation. Not that long ago, a sanitary control from the new administration showed up in our daycare. They were interested what we were doing with the sewage.
On the whole our street, there is not one house that hasn't been bombed, sewer system doesn't work, thousands of people live like animals and they in white gowns are threatening us with closing the daycare. It turned out, that 50 roubles - less than two dollars, had convinced these inspectors, that's everything's O.K. Well, from the start that was obvious" - tells Petra. She knows, many people won't survive this winter in Grozny, first and foremost the elderly and disabled that has been left to their fate in the cold and moist basements. But, she can't do for them anything more.
END
Russian Media Prepare the Russian Public for a Withdrawal from Chechnya
Qoqaz Net ~ Dec. 8
Civilian rallies continued in Grozny and Kershloi protesting the Russian occupation and the human rights violations of the Russian soldiers especially indiscriminate arresting, torturing, and murdering of young civilians. The protesters compared Putin to Stalin, who was known for his hate of Islam and extremely severe persecution of Muslims in Chechnya. In recent weeks, Russian command allowed Russian media to cover these protests and rallies. Insha-Allah they are trying to prepare their public for an upcoming withdrawal. Furthermore, Russian newspapers stated that some of the Russian commanders are now in favour of holding talks with the Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov. Russian commanders a few days ago reported that they were holding talks with various Chechen commanders. These reports were completely denied by the Mujahideen who insist that there is no negotiation with the Russians until they comply with the Chechen demands, the first of which is complete withdrawal from Chechnya.
END
Chechen Rebels Step Up Attacks
The Times ~ Dec. 7
Chechen rebels have ambushed Russian military postions, killing 12 soldiers and wounding more than 14 others. The rebels attacked 30 Russian positions in Chechnya in the past 24 hours, including checkpoints in the capital, Grozny, the northern city of Gudermes and the eastern town of Argun. A Chechen official said the rebels struck at the heart of Russian positions, in contrast to their usual practice of attacking remote or isolated areas. Eight soldiers died and more than ten were wounded in attacks on checkpoints. Four more soldiers were killed and four were wounded when the rebels blew up military trucks in Argun and Alkhan-Kala, near Grozny. Two Russian soldiers were also killed while trying to defuse a land mine on the road leading from Grozny to the neighbouring Russian region of Ingushetia
END
Six Dead Including Two Russian Policemen in North Caucasus
(AFP) ~ Dec. 7
Six people were killed including two Russian police officers in overnight attacks in the Caucasus republics of Chechnya and North Ossetia, news agencies reported Thursday citing police. Gunmen threw grenades at a police post stationed on the border between the republics of Ingushetia and North Ossetia before opening fire with automatic weapons, leaving two Russian policemen killed and three injured. Two of the gunmen were also killed in the battle, ITAR-TASS said, suggesting that the attackers had come from Chechnya.
Two rebels were killed during a clash with federal forces in the southern Alkhazurova village, the Russian command in Chechnya told ITAR-TASS. A number of civilians were hospitalised Wednesday after being injured by explosive devices planted by rebels, Interfax reported. Two landmines wounded local farmers and another one exploded under a civilian car, the Russian military told the news agency. Separately, Russian warplanes and attack helicopters staged more than 30 raids over the separatist province in the latest 24-hour span, concentrating on Chechnya's southern mountains where most of the remaining rebels are thought to be based. Russia has been fighting a 14-month war against the rebels in Chechnya since launching a self-styled "anti-terrorist" operation in the troubled republic on October 1, 1999.
END
Crime Capital of Georgia Overrun with Chechen Rebels
(AFP) ~ Dec. 7
Police in the former Soviet republic of Georgia warned Thursday of a possible conflict with Chechens living in the Pankiyski gorge, labelled the country's crime capital. "Almost all criminal activity is connected in some way to the Pankiyski gorge's eight villages where some 10,000 Chechens live," the chief of police in the northeastern Akhmeta district, Temur Arabuli, told AFP. "Georgian police cannot carry out operations there because they fear a conflict with the local population," said Arabuli. "Not a day goes past without a car or some cattle going missing, or a robbery happening, and that's not to mention the frequent kidnapping of foreigners," the police chief noted.
Six men including a Russian and two Spanish businessmen are currently being held hostage in the gorge by rebels. Half of the Chechens settled in the gorge many years ago, while the rest are thought to be refugees from the 14-month war in Russia's breakaway republic, which borders Georgia. Russia has repeatedly accused Tbilisi of allowing up to 2,000 Chechen rebels, currently based in the gorge, to move freely across the 80-kilometre (50-mile) mountainous border and earlier this week imposed a visa regime between the two countries.
"Drug trafficking, arms sales and hostage-taking is flourishing there," Russian President Vladimir Putin's top spokesman on Chechnya told Moscow's Echo radio Thursday. "Tbilisi did not respond to our calls for joint action and Georgia lacks the strength and means to guarantee the safety of the Chechen border by itself, so we were forced to introduce a visa regime," Sergei Yastrzhembsky added.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze on Wednesday accused "foreign secret services" of destabilising the situation and declared a state of emergency in the Kakhetia border region. Three armed Chechens were arrested by Georgian special services late Thursday in the gorge, Kakhetia's police chief Vanu Mgebrishvili told AFP. The arrests prompted a group of armed Chechens to descend from the mountains, threatening police and demanding their comrades' release, he added.
However, Georgian secret services were actively involved in escorting Chechen rebels across the border, a police source in Kakhetia's Akhmeta district told AFP Thursday. "In the end of October when there was a lot of talk of Chechen rebels crossing into Georgia, I saw a convoy of three trucks filled with Chechen rebels, entering the Pankiyski gorge without being checked," the police official said. "I stopped a car on the outskirts. The passengers were Chechens and I wanted to check their documents, but a Georgian security ministry official was accompanying them. He forbade me to search the car and threatened me."
A Chechen fighter and his wounded brother told AFP that they crossed the border into the Pankiyski gorge two months ago paying both Russians and Georgians. "We came to treat my brother's wounds, who was injured in Russian bombings, and then we will return to Chechnya," said 35-year-old Mansur. "The war is far from over and we need to take a breather. We are not Georgia's enemies, we are not bandits, we are grateful to the Georgian people for their hospitality," said Mansur. Georgian police fear the Chechen contingent will remain in the region until the snow blocking mountain passes melts in April, and warn that the Georgian armed forces are too ill-equipped to clamp down on the rebels.
END
Russia Tough on Georgia Over Chechens, West
Reuters ~ Dec. 7
Moscow has defended its imposition of visa controls on Georgia because of fears of infiltration by Chechen rebels but analysts said on Thursday Russia's move revealed anger at Georgia's efforts to forge closer ties with the West. After months of accusations that Georgia has been harbouring rebels from Russia's restless Chechnya region, Moscow launched a visa system for travel to and from the Caucasus state this week for the first time since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Analysts said the visa move meant more than just a headache for travellers but had implications for Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze as chronic unemployment regularly forced thousands of Georgians over the Russian border to earn money. ''(The visa regime) is very serious for the many people who come over to Russia to trade,'' Andrei Piontkovsky, head of Moscow's Centre for Strategic Studies, told Reuters. ''But I think it can be seen as part of a wider political campaign. Maybe it is to discredit Shevardnadze and find someone more attentive to Moscow's demands; Moscow was never happy with (his) overtures to the West and NATO,'' Piontkovsky said. Russian-Georgian relations have deteriorated during the course of the latest war against separatists in Chechnya, the second in six years, with Moscow criticising Georgia for letting guerrillas and weapons filter through its mountainous frontier.
POWERDERKEG BORDER REGION
The Kremlin has focused on the potential powderkeg of the Pankisi Gorge, where Georgia's small Chechen community has been flooded with at least 8,000 refugees flowing into a rugged border region over which Tbilisi has little control. Both governments accuse the other's border guards of letting Chechen fighters cross the remote frontier at will, and Russia has laid hundreds of mines to hamper rebel movements. An anti-tank mine blew up two Georgian border guards in October. Chechens are believed to be involved in the kidnapping of two Spanish businessmen last week on the main highway to Tbilisi airport. They are reportedly being held in the Pankisi Gorge.
The plight of the men is another blow to Shevardnadze's authority after two Red Cross officials were seized in the region earlier this year. They were freed without a ransom being paid. Shevardnadze has said he was ready to take ''emergency measures'' to restore order in the gorge, sending troops to the area after Georgian villagers demanded Tbilisi reassert its control. But analysts said he was caught in a dilemma. ''Georgia cannot exert control over the area but Shevardnadze cannot compromise his independence by allowing Russian troops to go in there. It's a totally dead-end situation,'' said Alexei Malashenko of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
RUSSIAN ASSERTIVENESS, GEORGIA EYES WEST
Shevardnadze also said he thought the unrest could be part of a wider plan to discredit him. ''Behind all these similar acts lie certain destructive forces, and that does not rule out the possibility of foreign states' special forces.'' Malashenko said Russia's tough tactics may be a bigger threat than criminals to Shevardnadze's public standing, after Moscow used last week's summit of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of IndependentStates (CIS) to demand tighter security on Central Asian and Caucasian frontiers. ''On one hand (Russian President Vladimir) Putin wants to show Shevardnadze who is boss and on the other to show the rest of the CIS who is boss.
He was very forcible at last week's summit,'' Malashenko said. The other issue irking Moscow is that Shevardnadze has said he wants Georgia to be knocking on the door of NATO by 2005 -- again raising the threat of Russia's Cold War foe encroaching on its borders, this time from the south. Georgia also stood against Moscow by backing the West's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia when Russia opposed it. In an interview in Thursday's Krasnaya Zvezda Russian army newspaper, Georgia's ambassador to Moscow Zurab Abashidze touched upon Tbilisi's attitude to NATO and the Kremlin. ''One of my friends was asked: ''To what extent is Georgia drifting to the West?' And he answered: To exactly the (degree), that Russia pushes her that way,'...this is part of the right way to look at the problem,''
Abashidze was quoted as saying. To add to Shevardnadze's worries, Russia has the bargaining tool of the gas and electricity it pumps into Georgia and which it has threatened to turn off due to unpaid debts. Russia's strength in this area was highlighted when thousands of Georgians last month flooded Tbilisi's darkened streets to protest at the country's parlous energy provision. Transport stopped and television and radio went off the air.
END
Rights Group Slams "Carnage" in Chechnya, Holds Out Hope in Balkans
(AFP) ~ Dec. 7
The international community failed to act to stop the "civilian carnage" in Chechnya and has done little to prevent the rise of authoritarian regimes in central Asia, US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its annual report Thursday. The report, published ahead of Human Rights Day on Sunday, painted a bleak picture of the overall human rights situation in parts of Europe and Central Asia. But HRW said it held out hope for peace in the Balkans, following the ouster of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and the death of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman."Milosevic's departure from power meant new hope for the rule of law and human rights protections in Serbia," the report said.
It issued a stinging rebuke, however, against Western governments for turning a blind eye to Russia's crackdown in breakaway Chechnya."The blatant impunity for war crimes in Chechnya cried out for accountability, but there was none," the report said. "The international community lacked the political will to exercise leverage with Russia to press for a halt to the massive abuses perpetrated by Russian forces in Chechnya."
It said that unlike the situation in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, where world leaders acted quickly to stem the conflict and help ethnic Albanian refugees, the civilian population in the Chechen capital Grozny has largely been left to fend for itself, with food, medical care and other needs provided haphazardly. The rights group denounced the fact that Western governments failed to condition economic aid to Russia to halt the violence in the small north Caucasus republic.
Russia poured forces into breakaway Chechnya on October 1, 1999 in a bid to wipe out separatist fighters blamed for a series of apartment bombings throughout Russia and for rebel incursions into neighboring Dagestan."The international community often lamented that it had no significant influence over Russia, but squandered real opportunities for leverage or sanctions in favor of political expediency," Human Rights Watch said. The report noted that little had been done to prevent the further entrenchment of authoritarian governments in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and other parts of the former Soviet Union."Once again, the international community chose not to use available policy tools to effect change or take a principled stand," it said.
It lamented that torture was also still widely used in various European countries, including Uzbekistan, Russia and Turkey. "Torture remained common in Turkey and was used to coerce testimony and confessions in both common criminal cases and security-related cases," the report said.However, one positive development was the publication this year by the Turkish parliament's Human Rights Commission of several reports documenting the persistence of torture, the report said. While it hailed positive political developments in Serbia and Croatia, it regretted that following the fall of Milosevic, the international community had wavered in its commitment to press for cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. It also pointed out that rights violations had been reported by ethnic minority groups returning to Bosnia and Croatia.
END
Daily News Service ~ Dec. 7
As Federation Minister Magomed Gireev had warned, the distribution of hot meals and bread was stopped yesterday at "Soglasie" refugee camp near Karabulak city, where 4950 people are sheltring. Most of the catering services have refused to supply the camp because of its huge debt. The Ingushi say the debt has reached 80 million rubles, though the Federation Ministry is reported to have transferred 43 million, which seems to have never reached those feeding the refugees. Meanwhile, the dropping winter temperatures are only increasing the tide of refugees.
Over the past two months their numbers have reached 9613 persons, who have not been registered by the Russian Ministry of Federation. In just the past day some 2000 refugees arrived in Ingushetia through "Kavkaz" checkpoint and 1841 left the republic, headed back to Chechnya.Only international organizations are continuing to send aid to the refugees. A UNHCR convoy bringing humanitarian aid is due to arrive today from Stavropol. 141,000 refugees received aid in November as part of the UN family food program. The same number is to also receive help in December.
END
Kolumbus ~ Dec. 4
One of the known Chechen commanders, emir Dzhambulat has stated in an interview to Kavkaz Center's correspondent that the actions of the Chechen divisions do not allow the occupants to really control the situation in the occupied territories of the country. In his opinion, the forces of the Russian aggressors are in impasse and do not know what to do next. The complete partizan war forces the enemy to stay in defense or to make senseless retaliatory actions against the civilian inhabitants. Emir Dzhambulat emphasized that the Jihad of the Chechen people and of the muslims of Caucasus will proceed anyway.
He emphasized that the mujahideen have enough of forces and means to break the backbone of the aggressors. It will take place earlier or later, told emir Dzhambulat. The Chechen commander told about one of the last operations of special units of mujahideen. The fighters of his division attacked at the enemy in the area of Novoye Atagi. In the short fight a Ural lorry and more than ten Russian soldiers were destroyed. In return the aggressors bombarded the village, destroying some houses, and wounding about 20 villagers.
A military formation blown up
Some details have arrived concerning the destruction of a Russian military formation in the vicinities of Argun. On Saturday at 12.20 p.m. local time a group of Chechen fighters blew up a military formation of the enemy with armoured equipment and other military machines. The explosion was made on the road between Dzhalka and Argun. As result of the explosion about armoured vehicles were put out of action. Not less than 7 aggressors were killed. After the explosion the mujahideen fired at the formation with automatic devices and machine guns. The Chechen party informed that the explosives were detonated after the armoured train had passed. It is interesting that even if there was an explosion and a fight thereafter, the train did not stop, but continued with full speed to Khankala. 20 minutes after the explosion Russian helicopters arrived to the place of the wrecked formation and fired at the environs for 3 hours.
In Dzhokhar fights continue On Sunday in Dzhokhar a mobile unit of Chechen mujahideen from the division of Abu Shamil fired in the city centre a movable post of the occupants. In the course of the clash a BTR was destroyed and 4 Russian soldiers were killed. Among the mujahideen there were no losses. A couple of hours later another group of Chechen fighters attacked a blockpost in the factory area of the city. 3 aggressors were killed and some soldiers were hardly wounded. Both of these attacks were carried out in the bright daylight.
The command of the mujahideen informs that within the last two days, several locations and patrolling groups of aggressors in Gudermes were exposed to attacks. Near the bridge through the Gums river a patrolling group of the occupants was destroyed and near the bus station a BMP was blown up. During the night between Saturday and Sunday a building of the occupational command was attacked with grenades. Exact information of victims is not available, but according to the Chechen investigation, some 4 aggressors might have been killed. Kavkaz Center's correspondent has been informed by the the Chechen staff that the mujahideen now hold in captivity plenty of occupants, including about 40 Russian officers. Some of them were working with confidential military objects in the high-mountainous areas of Chechnya. Many were killed and wounded under the bombardments of their own forces.
END
Moscow to Deploy 200 Permanent Garrisons Throughout Chechnya
Agence France Presse ~ Dec. 9
MOSCOW, -- (Agence France Presse) The Russian military announced Friday it was planning to deploy permanent garrisons in 200 of Chechnya's 375 towns and villages in order to protect the local population and their administrative leaders.
"Police officers, interior ministry troops and FSB security service officials will be stationed at the garrisons," Russia's chief-of-staff General Anatoly Kvashnin said Friday, according to the Interfax news agency.
Each garrison will include a reconnaissance unit responsible for searching out rebels operating in the area, he added."We are entering a new phase of the operation which will focus on the restoration of constitutional order in the Chechen republic," said Kvashnin.
During the 14-month war in Chechnya, separatist fighters have been actively carrying out punishment attacks against so-called Chechen "collaborators," particularly targeting local pro-Moscow administrators.
((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)
END
Nobody Wants Responsibility for Chechnya
Svetlana Nesterova, Gazeta.Ru ~ Dec. 9
Chaos reigns in Chechnya. It is not news - it is a fact. Gazeta.Ru has learnt that President Vladimir Putin is planning to hold a meeting dedicated to the Chechen situation and that the top officials of the so-called power ministries are bracing themselves for a severe castigation.
The chiefs of the power ministries, i.e. the Ministry of the Interior, The ministry of Defence and the Federal security Service (FSB) are very apprehensive about the forthcoming meeting with the president and are trying to figure out how to shift the blame from their respective ministries.
As from October this year, Chechnya ceased to be the top priority issue for the power ministries.
Gazeta.Ru sources in the special services report that operative data retrieved in Chechnya and reports compiled by their departments in the republic remain neglected for weeks, even months. They are not forwarded anywhere, nobody takes pains to process them and, consequently, the measures the situation demands are not conceived, let alone implemented.
According to our sources, the command of the unified military group in Chechnya is no longer capable of taking efficient and necessary action.
In fact, the decisions taken by the military commanders are nothing but a response to the actions of the Chechen rebels and bandits, and the federals have no elaborated tactics or any plans for of preventive measures.
Military units deployed in Chechnya's districts ( Shali, Vedeno and Vedeno district, Nozhai-Yurt, Khankala) have absolutely no operative tasks. All they do is carry out so-called `clean up' operations and impose temporary blockades of the areas where acts of terrorist are committed.
Some commanders act on their own initiative and send out reconnaissance units in search of rebels. But in doing so, those commanders realize full well that if rebels are found, the units will have to deal with them alone and that reinforcements cannot be relied upon. The same situation applies to Interior Ministry troops.
According to the reports from Gazeta.Ru's correspondent in Chechnya, it is absolutely impossible to determine what is the scope of duty and jurisdiction of the Army and Interior Ministry commanders deployed in Chechnya.
Gazeta.Ru sources in the special services and in the Kremlin administration report that the president has studied reports from the Chief Intelligence Department (GRU), and Federal Security Service (FSB) officials on the current situation in the republic. Our sources say that within the next two weeks Vladimir Putin will meet with the representatives of the power ministries to discuss the situation in the republic. It is highly likely that those in charge of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya will receive a severe castigation.
In order to safeguard themselves, the power ministries' top officials are taking action in advance. To be more exact, PR-action.
On Thursday, December 7, Chief of General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin announced the beginning of the new stage of the counter-terrorist operation. He said General Staff planned to station 10 thousand servicemen in 200 new mini-garrisons in Chechen population centres. But as soon as he Kvashin had announced those plans, the General Staff press service toned down the plans.
They explained that those would not exactly be `garrisons" as such, but `village units' comprised of local militia and that if necessary, the Interior Ministry's special mobile units would render them assistance. As for the army, only the 42nd division would remain in the republic, in Shali. But then, the General Staff officials emphasized that these were proposals, not plans.
The Interior Ministry's officials refused to comment on the Chief of General Staff's announcement, saying only they were Kvashin's personal ideas, and that Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo would soon present his plan.
Either way, the Interior Ministry was due to take full responsibility for the situation in Chechnya way back in March this year, when the military stage of the operation was officially declared complete.
However, due to the lack of proper coordination between the law enforcers, the military and the intelligence service, this never happened.
As a result Interior ministry troops still only conduct law enforcement activities and do not even take measures to prevent acts of terrorism. They only act after such attacks.
It is hard to believe that Rushailo, who must be well aware of the chaos in Chechnya, would agree to assume full responsibility for the state of affairs in the war-torn province.
In the meantime, Chechen rebels continue their subversive activities. On Friday seven Russian servicemen were killed by rebel gunmen and landmines and 18 were wounded and we have just received reports that 22 people were killed by a car bomb in Alkhan Yurt, Saturday evening.
END
BBC ~ Dec. 9
Russian troops are frequently targeted by rebels. Reports from Chechnya say a car bomb has killed at least 16 civilians outside a mosque in the village of Alkhan-Yurt, south-west of the capital Grozny. At least 11 Russian soldiers and two civilians were also reported killed in separate attacks earlier in the breakaway Caucasus republic.
A local pro-Moscow official, Lecha Mamatsuyev, said the car bomb ripped through a square near a mosque in Alkhan-Yurt on Saturday, killing 22 people and injuring 52. Twelve of the injured are in a serious condition, he told the Russian news agency Interfax.
The war has displaced thousands of Chechens
Alkhan-Yurt lies in Urus-Martan district, about 25km (15 miles) south-west of Grozny.
The office of Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, said 16 people were killed and 20 injured by the blast.
Rebel Attacks
Earlier, five Russian servicemen were killed and six wounded in an attack by separatist rebels, Interfax reported, quoting the Russian North Caucasus military command.
In another incident, two soldiers from the interior ministry's elite Omon force died when their vehicle hit a landmine, the news agency reported.
Rebels also broke into a hospital in Urus-Martan on Friday, killing two soldiers and two nurses, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass said.
Another soldier was killed and three were wounded in a shoot-out with rebels in Grozny, the Russian AVN military news agency said.
Guerrilla warfare
Russia sent troops back to Chechnya in September 1999 to crush separatist rebels, but they have been frequently targeted in guerrilla attacks.
Soldiers and policemen die every week in hit-and-run attacks and mine explosions, despite stringent security measures in the devastated republic.
Rebels in Chechnya won de facto independence from Russia in a brutal 1994-96 war.
END
Water Truck Blows Up In Chechen Police Headquarters
Associated Press ~ Dec. 8
MOSCOW - Two men drove a water tank truck into the courtyard of a Chechen police headquarters early Friday and blew it up, wounding 12 police officers and leaving one missing, a Chechen government official said. The driver of the truck was killed, Russian news reports said. It was unclear what happened to the second man. Two successive explosions blew the truck to pieces and ripped apart cars that were parked in the yard of the Interior Ministry department in Gudermes, theseat of the pro-Russian Chechen government. The blasts also damaged the headquarters building, and windows in surrounding residential buildings were shattered. The explosions followed a bloody overnight grenade attack on a Chechen police truck, which killed two police officers and seriously wounded three, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The two attacks underlined the rebels' recent campaign to strike in the heart of nominally Russian-controlled territory and to target the Russian forces' Chechen supporters. But the official suggested that the attacks could also have been orchestrated by people who have been angered by the Gudermes police force's alleged brutality.
The water truck had been filled with ammonium nitrate and a large number of artillery shells, the Interfax news agency cited the head of the police department as saying. Security officers had let the water truck through checkpoints because such trucks delivered water at the same time every day, the Gudermes official said. Police closed off roads leading from the city, and were searching for the two men who had been in the truck before the explosion, he said. Early reports suggested they died in the blast.
Igor Botnikov, an aide to Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky, said that only four policemen had been wounded in the truck bombing. Thirteen Russian servicemen were killed and 11 were wounded in other attacks across Chechnya over the past 24 hours, the official said. Four of thesoldiers were killed when rebels attacked an armored personnel carrier in the mountainous Vedeno region. Rebels attacked Russian checkpoints 28 times over the period.
Federal airplanes dropped powerful bombs in the Itum-Kale district, near the border with Georgia, to create rock blockades across alleged rebel routes through the mountains. They also delivered strikes on the Vedeno, Shatoi and Kurchaloi districts, all in the south. Heavy artillery shelled all those regions, as well as the southwestern Urus-Martan district.
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Georgia Rejects Russian Claims Over Chechens
BBC ~ Dec. 8
The Georgian authorities have dismissed Russian claims that a large contingent of Chechen rebels are operating out of the remote Pankiyski Gorge in the north of the country.
The presidential press secretary, Kakha Imnadze, told the Interfax news agency that the assertion by the Russian media and some officials was openly provocative and sought to undermine Georgia's authority.
Mr Imnadze said that during a recent trip to Georgia, the Russian Security Council Secretary, Sergey Ivanov, had rejected the possibility of Chechen rebels massing in Georgia.
Mr Imnadze said that if Russian authorities had knowledge of such an infiltration, then he would have expected them to mention it - something he said they hadn't done. He said that if Russia continued to antagonise Georgia, then Tbilisi would look elsewhere for partners.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
END
Dmitri Nepomnyaschy, IWPR ~ Dec. 8
NAZRAN - Sentenced to death by the outlawed rebel government and locked in conflict with the Russian high command, Bislan Gantamirov has good reason to be paranoid
Grozny mayor Bislan Gantamirov is claiming that a force of 120 gunmen who staged a dawn raid on his home last week were in fact Russian commandos disguised as Chechen fighters.The Russian defence ministry has dismissed the accusation as "crazy and absurd" adding that "it has no relation to reality and is merely an exercise in disinformation".
But the maverick mayor, who is also deputy head of the pro-Russian civilian administration in Chechnya, insists that the kidnap attempt was planned and carried out by the federal high command.
Gantamirov was away from his home in the village of Gekhi, near Urus-Martan, when the raiders struck on the morning of December 5. They outflanked a Russian military checkpoint on the road into the settlement before making their way to Gantamirov's residence.
Finding their target absent, the raiders proceeded to ransack the house, then abducted two Chechen policemen who were stationed in the village.The incident marks the second attack on Gantamirov's home in less than a year. Last winter, 11 Chechen fighters were killed and 20 wounded in a concerted attempt to storm the building. On this occasion, the raiders captured a local militiaman whose headless corpse was found a week later.
Gantamirov has been a highly controversial figure since he was jailed for six years in 1998 for embezzling $5 million of government funds. Desperate to find an ally in the Chechen ranks, President Boris Yeltsin released Gantamirov from jail in November 1999 and gave him command of the pro-Russian militia.
Under Gantamirov's leadership, the 2,500-strong force suffered heavy losses during the battle for Grozny, taking on policing duties in the capital after the rebel forces had withdrawn.
In July, the Chechen leader was appointed deputy head of the civilian administration, under Akhmad Kadyrov, the republic's former mufti. Over the past five months, the bitter rivalry between the two men has become legendary and, on at least one occasion, Moscow has been forced to defuse a potentially violent confrontation.
Of late, Gantamirov has made no secret of his suspicions that the federal high command is plotting his overthrow. He believes that his outspoken criticisms of the Russian campaign in Chechnya have made him enemies in the Kremlin where he is seen as a political loose cannon rather than a valuable ally.
And, in Chechnya itself, Gantamirov has effectively burned his bridges. On November 15, all Chechens collaborating with the federal forces were officially condemned to death by President Aslan Maskhadov's outlawed regime. The announcement was followed by a spate of brutal assassinations. In late November, the head of a Chechen mountain district was decapitated together with his deputy. Days later, masked gunmen attacked the mayor of Gudermes, Malik Gazemiev, wounding his driver and his brother.
Last Thursday, a kamikaze raider exploded a bomb outside the police headquarters in Gudermes, killing himself and wounding several Chechen militiamen.
So far, however, none of the pro-Russian Chechen leaders have yielded to rebel pressure and abandoned their posts.
Meanwhile, Gantamirov has gone back on the offensive, accusing "chameleon" Chechen policemen of collaborating with the separatists. He has announced plans to reform local police forces by increasing the number of "freelance" officers.
All candidates will be interviewed by a special commission including FSB and interior ministry agents as well as representatives from the Grozny mayor's office - headed by none other than Bislan Gantamirov.
Dmitri Nepomnyaschy is a regular IWPR contributor
Copyright IWPR 2000
END
A. Zakayev, Vice Premier of the Government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Chechenpress ~ Dec. 8
Declaration (unauthorized translation from the Russian version by Norbert Strade )
The systematical increasing of tensions around the presence of Chechen refugees on Georgian territory has assumed a deliberate character. Already during the first months of the second Russo-Chechen war, when the Kremlin was in need of a victory, the Russian army blocked the Georgian-Chechen border and boasted that not even a mouse would be able to cross it. This winter, the Russian military bands have had a whole year to consolidate their positions, but in recent times it has turned out that almost all caravans with arms and other provisions warp on both sides of the border. In the latest international news it was told literally that a Georgian ship circulates inthe waters of the Black Sea, of course in Chechen interests, transporting mercenaries and arms from coastal countries. It's amazing that Russia hasn't declared war on Georgia yet.
The Chechen government has responsibly declared that the subversive, terrorist war against Georgia, which is typical for Russia, started long ago and is conducted unsuccessfully. From their own example the Chechens know that murders and kidnappings of foreigners with the alleged aim of ransom point in the direction of a specific, large-scale terrorist action to destabilize the internal situation and to discredit the country in the eyes of the international community. The following stage are "spontaneous" protests of the population, the systematical establishing of a hard and irreconcilable confrontation with the official authorities.
It is well-known that Russia has the habit only to wage "noble", "defensive" wars, which of course are never declared. Just so it liberated the "ancient Russian land", in this way it expressed the Slavic solidarity, also towards the Catholics in Poland and Ukraina, gave international proletarian aid to the whole world - in the jungles of Indo-China and in South America, in the savannahs of Africa, in the deserts of the Sahara, in the mountains of Asia, and so on. The Georgians and Chechens never had any demands against each other. We have grateful feelings toward the Georgian people and its leadership these days, for the temporary shelter which has been given to thousands of Chechen refugees. The Chechens regard the freedom of the Georgian people as aguarantee of their own freedom. The Chechen government is deeply concerned about the possibility of a soon to come "brotherly aid" to the Georgian people against "international Chechen terrorism".The dictatorship, whose beginnings the foreign minister of the USSR, Edvard Shevardnadze, warned of in 1991, has already been ruling in Russia for one and a half year. "Anti-terrorism" has been developed and passed by the Kremlin as an official ideology for the next enslaving of its own people and the renewed conquest of the former positions of the USSR. The Chechen Republic was giventhe role of a mythical Islamic threat, of the main source of "terrorism" and of a training ground for the "anti-terrorist" forces. It's no accident that the whole, several million strong Russian power structure moved to Chechnya, with an appetite for human blood and a passion for robbery and atrocities. In the light of its increasing pressure on Georgia, the Chechens are warning the CIS countries that the terrorist war against the Chechen people might turn out to be only an intermediate stage in the whole planned revanchist provocation and war from the Russian side. Without any exaggeration, the Kremlin can be regarded as a mad fireman who starts fires with the only reason to be called to help. Nowadays, Russia presents itself as a source of terrorism in the whole world.
Addressing the Georgian leadership, we express our hope that it doesn't lose its control and succesfully creates countering measures to all provocations to destabilize the situation, including the implantation of anti-Chechen emotions. The Chechens assure their Georgian brothers that they will defend their freedom with full determination and achieve that the occupants leave the country.
END
Russia and Chechnya: From One War to Another,
Mikhail Sokolov ~ Dec. 4
Guryanova Street. The long, white block of flats I know so well has lost its middle. Only two wings remain. The central entrance halls have been replaced by a smoky void. The site, full of ruins, is teeming with rescuers. Onlookers pass by. The aftermath of the first bomb explosion in Moscow.
The house, with its smelly entrance halls in urgent need of repair and its views of cranes at the goods port and the grey fences of the Lenin Komsomol car factory, was home to friends of mine. Fortunately, they made money during the "Perestroika" mayhem and had left the proletarian district Tekstilstshiki. As would become evident later, they abandoned the place in time, having left behind peripheral workers in a place where it is unthinkable to run into a sober man on Saturday evenings and where the sound of a small accordion at a beer kiosk can be heard on Sundays.
On another day, bags with an explosive device were found in the cellar of a house at the standard housing estate Brateyevo. Then came one more explosion - in the Kashirskoye Shosse. A brick tower, built in the 70s for the workers, turned into a heap of ruins one morning.
Moscow was overwhelmed by shock. Scared people guarded the entrances to their buildings. Unapprehended bombers, having targeted civilians for some reason instead of officials and politicians, were a different story to the invasion of Shamil Basayev's bandits into Dagestan.
The newspapers published portraits of the "Caucasians" allegedly involved in the explosions. So-called democrats and defenders of human rights urged war.
A tough and massive campaign against Chechens began. They were arrested for the usual wrongdoings: possessing soft drugs like "grass", a piece of trotyle or a few bullets. Tens of people were accused of being the bombers' accomplices. Then they were quietly released.
Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, promised that all of the capital's unregistered would be turfed out. Frowning policemen, going from one flat to another in our building, were asking people whether they knew anything about our neighbour of Karachay nationality.
Hysteria in the newspapers grew. Only a few were dismayed by the case in Ryazan: the militia finds an explosive device in a cellar, but suddenly some KGB officials appear saying they are doing a training exercise.
The state TV channels called for revenge. The independent NTV, headed by Oleg Dobrodeyev, who left soon after to get a top post with state TV, for a while became "military television".
Vladimir Putin, the Prime minister, promised the terrorists would be "drowned in a restroom" for their actions.
Chechen leaders denied their being connected to the explosions. Russian troops were moving slowly towards Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. The authorities duly promised the troops would stop at the Terek, the river at the foothills of the Caucausus.
Thus the second Chechen war, a revengeful one, began.As a matter of fact, I was in the white block of flats on Gurjanova Street several times. Furthermore, I used to pass the brick tower in Kashirskoye Shosse for a few years on my way to work. For some time, I even lived just next to the house in the Brateyevo housing estate, where the explosive devicewas found.
Clearly, these targets were an excellent choice. Noone of any importance became a target; it was just a crowd - those who have recently been drafted in to Moscow to work for big factories and live in cheap hostels.
The anonymous terrorists' task was to make people scared stiff and to show them that the war may be everybody's business.
As a result of this, flabbergasted Russians were willing to ignore any casualties or genocide, hoping the bomb attacks against the common people would not be repeated. A colonial war became a patriotic one. Whoever could fight with unprecedented and undefeatable power would receive the gratitude of the nation. V. V. Putin, a previous Chekist thus appeared. As a matter of fact, the feeling of apprehension instilled throughout the country got him elected.
Now, almost one and a half years after the blasts, it is not important whether somebody consciously ordered the explosions or randomly used terrorists. It is even possible to accept the feeble official version. It is actually the result, needed by the election winners, which becomes significant.
Opinion polls show that during the first war in Chechnya (1994 - 1996) the majority of Russians, by virtue of differing circumstances, felt a negative attitude toward the politics of Chechen leaders and Chechens themselves.
The reasons were various. The first group were just victims of xenophobia; the second abhorred the activities of Chechen criminal gangs; the third considered the stable Chechen communities living in cities unscrupulous competitors in business; the fourth group opposed separatism. Others were disgusted by violations of human rights in Chechnya during the former presidency of Jokhar Dudayev as well as by the recent "business" practices of seizures, ransoms and a slave trade.
However, that vast majority (60 - 70 percent) was apparently divided into two groups: "activists" and "isolationists".
The "activists" backed Boris Yeltsin in his leading of the war and approved of fighting to a victorious end, regardless of civilian casualties. As the survey suggests, this group makes up about a third of the population.
However, a similar number of people recommended a different policy. They advocated shutting Russia off from the strange, Muslim Chechnya that tends to extreme forms of Islam, declaring border and visa restrictions, and sending disloyal Chechens back to their own country.
This group's view is understandable. If we did not fight even for real "Russian" regions (where they speak our language at least), such as southern Siberia (Kazakhstan nowadays), Kharkovsthina, Donbass, Novorossiya and the Russian-speaking Crimea (part of the Ukraine), why should we insist on keeping Islamic Chechnya (where they speak a different language)? Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a famous writer and the most significant holder of this view, expressed it some time ago. He suggested joining the "Cossack" part of Chechnya to Russia, stretching a border along the river Terek and thus giving the mountainous land of Imam an opportunity of living according to its own savage laws.
It was just these people purveying Solzhenitsyn's opinion, together with the quarter of the population that firmly opposed the war itself, that became the majority in 1996 surveys. The two camps forced Boris Yeltsin to give general Alexander Lebed carte blanche to sign the peace Treaty of Khasav-Yurt (a shameful Treaty-of-Brest-Litovsk-like one).
Opinion polls carried out in 1997 showed that if a referendum were held, the majority of Russians would vote for the independence of mountainous Chechnya, or more precisely, its exclusion from the federation. Indeed, this will happen one day.
The question of 1999 was whether the terror-stricken atmosphere shakes up the "isolationist" population. Using an overall fear of mass terrorism, the authorities' agitation made the "isolationists" join the "activists". The authorities, backed by the two federal TV channels using a blanket brain- washing campaign, managed to accomplish a temporary national-patriotic majority which welcomes any means of force by Putin's military apparatus.
Surveys carried by the All-Russian Centre for Opinion Polls (ARCOP) suggest the following: December 1999 (general election to the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, takes place; the victory of "Unity" and other Kremlin allies) - 70 percent of those polled agree with the continuation of the war to a victorious conclusion; April 2000 (the presidential election; VladimirPutin's victory) - 67 percent hold the same view. Putin's policy in Chechnya, as the main stimulus for their backing him, was decisive for 21 percent of those surveyed. Considering the patriotic front, the former Chekist and lieutenant colonel Vladimir Putin outplayed the communist Zyuganov. The leader of the Communist Party of Russian Federation could defeat the present president only if he repeated Stalin and Beriya's campaign of banishing all Chechens from Chechnya.
Time goes on and support starts to weaken. As the war continues, the reports of casualties emerge and of guerrillas holding their posts. Leaders collaborating with criminals embezzle federal funds. The cleverest of them disclose Russian troop violations that slowly lead to demoralization.
"Triumphant" generals hurry to become politicians. Having received posts, they stand as candidates for governorship.
The number of those who support the war in Chechnya slowly falls: from 56 percent in April to 49 percent in September.
Even commander Putin seems to show less interest in Chechnya. When in talks with western leaders, he presents Russia as a sort of bastion against international Islamic terrorism, Bin Laden and Afghan Talibs.
There are increasingly more reports suggesting that Moscow does not really know what should be done with Chechnya.
The psychological turning point comes in October 2000. For the first time, the majority of those polled, as many as 47 percent, call for peace talks, while only 44 percent want the military campaign to continue. As casualties mount, the war is backed only by 34 percent, while as many as 55 percent of the population support peace talks.
The practice of suppressing passions is failing to work. The divide between "activists" and "isolationists" is coming to end. However, it would be hopeless to expect any serious peace-making acts from Putin's present apparatus established in the wake of fatalities in the Moscow explosions and war in Chechnya.
Although Putin's Russia is not completely based on military performance, it lends itself easily to restoring imperial-Soviet practices. 46 percent of the population welcome the idea of rehabilitating the former USSR anthem. More than half of those surveyed want the results of privatisation to beinvestigated and federal liberties to be abolished. Facing such feeling among the people, the power of Vladimir Putin, like that of Belorussian dictator Lukashenko, may strengthen.
In order to calm people, Moscow will pretend to lead peace-talks, putting mere marionettes in the spotlight. This is how Mr. Putin plans to ingratiate himself with 80 percent of those polled, who are dismayed with the failure to tackle the Chechen crisis and not end the military campaign.
The propagandist echo of the blasts in Moscow is fading in Russian hearts. However, today's Russia has no political power able to oppose the absurd campaign in Chechnya; what is more, Europe feels no interest in having disputes with Russia. To conclude, the bloodshed will continue for a long time- with Russia and the World facing an outcome similar to the aftermath of the war in Afghanistan.Mikhail Sokolov is RFE/RL correspondent.
Firstly published in the Czech weekly Respekt (4.-10.12. 2000). Translated by Prague Watchdog with the author's consent.
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Kadyrov to Seek Aid for Chechnya in Libya, Iraq
Moscow Times ~ Dec. 5
Combined Reports Akhmad Kadyrov, the head of the Moscow-backed Chechen administration, will visit Iraq and Libya in his first official trip abroad, Itar-Tass said Monday. It said Kadyrov would discuss aid for the troubled separatist republic with the governments of the two Arab states. A program for the visit had been prepared and final dates would be announced after the necessary formalities had been completed, Itar-Tass said. Kadyrov is a Moslem cleric and former rebel leader who last year switched sides and threw his weight behind the Kremlin's latest military drive to bring Chechnya to heel. Russia has traditionally supported both Libya and Iraq in the face of UN sanctions, bringing states shunned by the West in from the cold. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz was in Moscow for an official visit last week.
Chechnya's pro-independence leaders, who have widespread sympathy in much of the Islamic world, consider Kadyrov a traitor. Federal forces in Chechnya continued to take a beating in spite of stepped-up military security. At least 13 servicemen were killed and 21 wounded over the past 24 hours, an official in the pro-Moscow administration said Monday. Twelve of the soldiers were killed in rebel shelling of 25 checkpoints, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Fifteen were wounded in the shelling. Another soldier was killed and two were wounded when rebels attacked an armored personnel carrier on Sunday in Grozny.
Over the weekend, federal forces had tightened security in Grozny, beefing up roadblocks and subjecting Chechens to lengthy document checks. Such measures were introduced a week ago, eased for several days, then reintroduced. The military on Monday claimed to have killed eight rebels in a helicopter strike in the southern Shali region, the Chechen government official said. Federal airplanes, helicopters and artillery also bombarded the Itum-Kale,Vedeno and Nozhai-Yurt regions, all in areas where the rebels have been active. Interior Ministry troops were sent to the Itum-Kale region, near the border with Georgia, to back up guards posted there, the official said. Rebels have shelled border guards' positions in the area almost every night.
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