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TITLE: This War Cannot Succeed - The Killing Will Not Subdue Chechnya |
AUTHOR: |
PUB: The Guardian |
DATE: Wednesday January 24, 2001 |
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A halt to Vladimir Putin's criminal war against the Chechen people is long overdue. Even the Russian president cannot any longer pretend that his policy of suppression and annihilation is working. Unofficial estimates suggest that 6,500 Russian serviceman have died and at least 20,000 have been injured in "anti-terrorist" operations that began 16 months ago. Civilian casualties are in the uncounted tens of thousands. Chechnya and its cities have been laid waste; basic human rights are being flouted on a tragic scale. Killings, disappearances, torture and extortion by Russia's ill-disciplined, ill-led soldiers have become routine, as a new Human Rights Watch report makes clear. Mr Putin has imposed pro-Moscow puppet administrators and talks of reconstruction aid. But such self-serving gestures ignore the reality on the ground, where destruction goes on unchecked. The secessionists led by Chechnya's elected president, Aslan Maskhadov, although much reduced, fight on guerrilla-style and show not the slightest sign of giving up. Thus does Mr Putin reap the harvest of hatred that his murderous blitzkrieg has sowed. Mr Putin's decision to place the main KGB successor agency, the FSB, in charge in Chechnya, and to withdraw some troops, may mean that the indiscriminate army bombardments of civilian areas that usually follow Chechen attacks will in time be reduced. But it also means a switch of tactics towards what Mr Putin's spokesman calls "neutralisation and elimination" - in other words, state-sponsored terrorism and assassination. Yet more than that, Mr Putin's decree is a silent admission of defeat. His presidential campaign vow to subjugate Chechnya remains unfulfilled. He can insist until he is red in the face that the war is now just a mopping-up operation. The truth is that his clumsy use of brute force has proved to be a disaster for all concerned and is the shame of all Russia. It is time for this pointless carnage to end. Mr Maskhadov says he is prepared to talk. The EU and the Osce, vapidly, and the Council of Europe, more energetically, support a negotiated settlement. The Russian people appear weary of Putin's war. So are ordinary Chechens, whose unrelenting suffering should sting the conscience of all who would do business with Mr Putin (including our own Tony Blair). Russia's leader should stop shooting, start talking, and prove he is not just a thug in a sharp suit. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 END |