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Russian Troop Brutalities Continue in Chechnya
By Siraj Islam Mufti
30/07/2001
July 10, 2001 (IslamOnline) - Memorial, the Russian human rights group denounced "anarchy among Russian troops." Memorial, along with the New York-based Human Rights Watch, has frequently accused Russian forces of carrying out reprisals on civilians, who are looted and robbed of their possessions, with some even summarily executed on the slightest suspicions without any legal recourse. Russian servicemen are rarely punished for such brutalities. Chechen refugees often cite harassment as the main reason for not returning to their homes.
July 9, 2001 (iviews) - Ahmad Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow chief in Chechnya in a rare rebuke of the Russian military campaign expressed outrage at their conduct and described recent "cleansing operations" as "a large-scale crime against civilians." (These army operations are carried out ostensibly "to filter out" persons who have taken part in military activities against Russian forces, but they "exist, in practice to annihilate or permanently cripple the greatest number of Chechen males." The operations usually involve large-scale arrests and harassment of civilians before their release, some have to be 'bought back' by their relatives, while others simply disappear.)
July 11, 2001 (Associated Press) - General Vladimir Moltenskoi, Russia's top acting military commander in Chechnya, regretted that his troops committed "large-scale crimes" and "lawless acts" against civilians in recent raids on several villages, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. He added that such crimes had also been committed in other similar operations and in unprecedented self-criticism he compared their raids to the Tartar invasion that devastated Russia in the 13th Century.
Such is the sad course of events in Chechnya. This land of legendary heroes was independent until the end of 1917 when it was brutally annexed into the USSR as part of Soviet empire. Its population was decimated, tortured and confined into the frozen dungeons of Siberia. But then on December 8, 1991, Russian leaders admitted the failure of their socialist experiment and decided to breakup the Union. Thus, its constituent republics automatically reverted to their former independent status. Furthermore, before this breakup was announced, the status of autonomous territories was raised to equality with that of other republics, including Russia, by law on April 26, 1990. As a result, the Chechen-Ingush Republic declared itself autonomous on November 27, 1990. This was also in accord with the former Soviet Union's (Russia) June 12, 1990, declaration guaranteeing each nation the right to choose its form of government.
The Chechen nation elected its first president and parliament on October 27, 1991, and adopted its own constitution on March 12, 1992, as a sovereign, independent and democratic state under the rule of law. However, the Russian Federation contravened the decisions of the Chechen parliament, and bereft of any legal validity, in December 1993, it arbitrarily included the Chechen Republic in its constitution against the clear dictates of international law. The lure of land rich in natural resources, including vital oil, was too much to let go away - to a greater extent than other Muslim republics that are nominally independent, but are still enmeshed under Russian hegemony.
The Russian Federation then committed its egregious invasions into the Chechen Republic in 1994 and 1996. The Chechens withstood these wanton attacks valiantly, with the result that the invasions culminated in a peace treaty signed in Moscow on May 12, 1997, by Aslan Maskhadov and Boris Yeltsin, the presidents of the two
respective countries, amounting to a de facto recognition of independence of the Chechen Republic. Furthermore, according to an agreement signed before this on August 31, 1996, by General Aleksandr Lebed on behalf of the Russian Federation and Chechen President Maskhadov, any and all Russian sovereignty claims were put on hold and made subject to the two parties reaching an agreement at the end of 2001.
Thus, when the Russian Federation invaded Chechnya for the second time in September 1999, it violated two international agreements it had entered into. Subsequently, in a strange twist to this, General Lebed had the gall to admit that the treaties were not meant to be abided, but were agreed in order to "save the Russian army from dishonor" at the moment. In order to avenge this dishonor, and to demonstrate Russian neo-imperial might, now, about two grueling years have since elapsed, and the Russian army is still engaged in its savage campaign to liquidate Chechnya. This genocidal war is aimed at eliminating every Chechen who is not willing to submit to Russian occupation. Of an estimated 1.5-1.8 million Chechen population at the start of invasion, only about 800,000 now remain inside Chechnya.
In accord with the above, six months ago, General Anatoly Kvashnin, Russian Chief of General Staff, exuding extreme military brash with shameless barbarity, blustered: "We will beat the Chechens to pulp so that the present generation will be too terrified to fight Russians again." But not yet entirely sure of this solution, he added: "In 20 or 30 years, a new generation of Chechens that hasn't seen the Russian army in action will grow up and they will again rebel, and we will have to smash them all over again."
The Russians may be pursuing their genocidal campaign until the last Chechen, but Akhyad Idigo, Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Relations and Maskhadov's Ambassador-at-large, put it conversely as follows, "We used to say: 'We are going to fight till the last Chechen.' We do not say that any more. We are now saying: 'Until the last Russian quits our territory.' You can also put it like this: 'We are doomed to victory, whatever the price.'"
The Russian war machinery appears already bogged down in a war that has no exit except to Moscow. Although the Chechens are outgunned, outmanned and overwhelmed, they refuse to be outmaneuvered or overcome. There are few Chechen prisoners of war; they are either killed, or killing Russian occupation forces. This is the partisan war Maskhdov had promised: not a war between Russian and Chechen armies, but Chechen partisan fighters appearing from nowhere and hitting the enemy anytime, anywhere. According to Russian authorities, since October 1999 the war has claimed the lives of 3,000 Russian troops; a soldiers' mothers committee estimates that the true figure is three times higher.
For all their savagery, the Russians have not been able to bend the will of the Chechen people. The Russian leadership is driven crazy to avenge Afghanistan. But Chechnya is a different Afghanistan; without getting muddied up by malevolent allies, Chechens are fighting it entirely on their own and teaching Russia yet another lesson. Russia may occupy the land, but not its people. And Russian President Vladimir Putin is desperate to get out of this dilemma he created for Russia.
The only war terrified Russians soldiers are fighting is a war in which they make random forays into villages and other habitations and indiscriminately kill unarmed civilians, without any regard for the aged, women and children. On a daily basis, the mostly drunk and frustrated soldiers are engaged in committing the most heinous war crimes.
These two successive wars have been most brutal for the people of Chechnya. The occupation forces make no distinction between Chechen fighters and Chechen civilians as they go about their business. Survivors give gory descriptions of summary executions, robbery, mutilation of the dead, and the looting of already traumatized victims. Estimates put the number of Chechen killed at 100,000, with countless others raped, mutilated and maimed.
And in the meantime, the Russian government has deliberately been misleading its own people concerning the Chechen problem. All an average Russian knows about the
boeviks (Chechen fighters) is that they are bearded, crafty, cruel kidnappers trafficking in living cargo who cut off the fingers, and sometimes the heads, of their hostages, and that Chechens as a group are inherently criminal. Only two or three Russian publications have the courage to enlighten their people about Chechnya, and those publishers are persecuted and prosecuted by the authorities.
Chechens are receiving scant attention by the world community. For example, examine the latest bipartisan report on foreign policy and national security, highlighted by U.S. President George W. Bush's visit with Putin. The report recommends "an alliance approach in dealing with Russia", and thus turning Russia into "an attractive security partner". And fitting oddly with this notion, the report "justifies the absence of humanitarian intervention" to the gross violations of human rights in Chechnya, on the ground that it would jeopardize "other, more important national interests".
Also in tune with the above, while the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly requested its member governments to call Russia to account before the European Court of Human Rights, none were willing to do so. European governments are carrying out business-as-usual with Putin. Their human concern has ended up in mere preaching the value of living up to international norms included in the Helinski Declaration and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, without any resolve or intention to back it up through action.
Even more deplorable are the self-serving and cowardly policies of Muslim regimes that are completely at odds with the wishes of their own people. There are no concerted and effective policy decisions made or carried out by any of the governments, or the 55-member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). They are impotent. And the OIC has remained paralyzed - particularly so after the "Desert Storm" of 1990. How, otherwise, could they swallow the Russian version of the claim that Chechnya is an internal affair, when Chechen history from its onset totally belies it? And why would they not support the right of self-determination of any people, and Chechen Muslims in particular, but rather accept the Russian bait that their military attacks are against "terrorists" while it is abundantly clear that it is savage suppression of a freedom-loving people and brutal genocide of a very brave nation?
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