Is the 20th Century ending with Russian Crime in Chechnya?

by M. A. Bari

In the closing days of the century the small Caucasian Republic of Chechnya is being pounded by Russian bombardment from air and land. Reports, filtering through tight Russian censorship, testifies that the Russian forces are now using long-range ballistic missiles, notorious for their inaccuracy, against a Republic 150 times smaller that Russia. By forcing international news media and humanitarian aid agencies out of Chechnya Kremlin has virtually imposed a world-wide news blackout so that Russian generals can carry out their scorched-earth policy and bring a historic nation to the stone age. In this dirty campaign the generals are serving their two masters. One, their present political leadership who want to be elected on the back of Chechen people in the coming election, and the other, the disguised Communists who have a dream of bringing back the old Soviet 'glory'.

In spite of Russian news blockade, the grim facts of human tragedy are reaching the outside world. The tiny Chechnya, which could never recover from the previous Russian onslaught in 1994-95, is in ruins. Although Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in Grozny, they killed more than 100,000 Chechens and destroyed Chechnya's infra structure in that bloody war. Russia is once again turning it into a wasteland. The Russian Goliath wants to finish off Chechen David once and for all. The suffering of ordinary Chechen civilians is ever increasing and the whole nation is now bleeding. In a country of only 800,000 people, the civilian death toll and casualty figure has already risen to tens of thousands, 200,000 have already fled to neighbouring Inghusethia and tens of thousands are trapped inside. In the bitter sub-zero temperature with no fresh water supply and power supply cut by the Russian army, the situation is stark indeed. With no outside help, the Chechen nation is on the verge of extermination.

The situation is worse than what Milosevic, the Slavic friend of Yeltsin, created in Kosova some months ago. At least the world could know what was happening inside Kosova. Patrick Cockburn of the Independent wrote on 3rd November, "In one respect the Chechens are much worse off than either Kosovars or the East Timorese". It is an irony that, while Milosevic was despised by the West, Yeltsin is being rewarded for the similar crime. Should Yeltsin and Putin get away with this violation of human rights? Should the Russian generals who openly boast, "we will bomb Chechnya into stone-age", get away with their war crimes? According to Reuters of 3rd November, Human Rights watch in the US stated that "There is evidence of war crimes in Chechnya".

Is it going to be the Century's last genocide? The context the Kremlin leaders are using, i.e., Chechens are "terrorist people' is intended to create Russian people's unconditional support for their invasion of Chechnya. They have successfully manipulated the Russian public opinion into believing that Chechens are the cause of Russia's ills and deserve no better treatment. The mindless bombings that rocked Moscow some months ago and killed a few hundred people has not proved that Chechens were behind them. The Chechen government dissociated from these cowardly acts and their President challenged Russian allegations. No proper investigation was ever done. Even if some Chechens were responsible for that crime, does that make a whole nation terrorist and victim of Russian massacre? The fact that Russia is perpetuating heinous crime against Chechnya bears witness that those bombings were carried out by the Russian Intelligence to demonise the Chechen people in the world opinion. The excuse to brutalise them with brutish force, within a few years, in the same way they did with other nations in the Stalin era was invented in the Kremlin war room.

It looks that Russian psyche is bent on the destruction of Chechens as a nation. With the fall of Berlin wall and the collapse of Communism, Russia is undergoing through a crisis of identity and confidence. When western market economy was implanted in impoverished and bankrupt Russia, without addressing the long-term implications, it backfired. The cost of living for an average Russian rose sky high. The society became ever divided, with multitude of dislocated individuals started begging in Russian metropolitan cities for mere survival. With high level political corruption and Mafia style crime, Russia lost her credibility to play a world role. In the new world-order of US dominance and rising role of China, Russia became a near non-entity and synonymous with corruption, cronyism and inefficiency. IMF and World Bank poured billions of dollars to the Kremlin's bottomless basket only to keep it breathing.

It is in this background that Russia's adventure in Chechnya needs to be analysed. The fear that this misadventure could turn into a fiasco and create further instability in already a volatile region should be taken seriously. Over one billion Muslims are watching yet another cruelty done to their fellow Muslim compatriots, blatant double standard displayed by the world powers and the disgraceful silence of their rulers. When injustice and oppression go unchallenged by the existing world establishment, the impotence and frustration of the sufferers could turn to unforeseeable commotion and anger. Of course, nature has its own process of retribution. The Chechen struggle against Russian genocidal policy and their unyielding fortitude to fight back may well spill over in other parts of Russia and bring disastrous consequences in the new millennium. The fact that Chechens have no alternative but to fight and die for their independence makes them so valiant and resolute.

Russia's obsession with Chechnya is not simply because of her rich oil and gas deposits. Chechnya is a small country of only about 10,000 sq.kms. But, with an important strategic location in the eastern part of the Caucasus Mountains, Chechnya is the gateway to the Muslim world. As a result, when they declared independence in 1992, the Russian government turned it down and in 1994 Russian troops moved into Chechnya "to re-establish constitutional order". Russia is also haunted by the rich Chechen history of fight back, even in extreme situation. Caucasus had also seen the political and military rivalry between Safavid Persia, Ottoman Turkey, and Tsarist Russia since the 16th century. In the 1840's, a broad resistance under the leadership of Imam Shamil Basayev held off the Russians for more than a decade. Although Russia succeeded in annexing Chechnya in 1859, Chechens never gave in and resisted Russian aggression and, later on, Soviet imperialism. Chechnya underwent inhuman atrocities in the hand of Stalin who exiled more than half of its people from their land. But none of these could crush Chechen determination to become an independent state.

The post-Soviet cat-and-mouse game of Russia symbolizes Russia's treacherous policy on Chechnya. With Yeltsin's emergence as Russia's new leader, the Chechens saw some light in the dark tunnel. They declared independence on November 1, 1991. But Yeltsin responded to that by invading Chechnya in December 1994. The war dragged on for 15 months and shattered Chechnya. On May 27, 1996, Yeltsin signed a peace accord with Chechnya in Moscow, after their charismatic President, Zhokar Dudayev, was killed by a cowardly Russian air attack in April. It was a political ploy by Yeltsin, only to win the forthcoming presidential election, as the war became too unpopular with the Russian voters. The peace agreement was followed by Yeltsin's offer of a power-sharing agreement that would allow Chechnya to become a sovereign state within the Russian Federation. But like his Soviet predecessors, Yeltsin is also mincing his own words. He has sent more than 100,000 troops to Chechnya and employed his propaganda machines to convince the world of his dastardly action

Can Yeltsin succeed where Stalin and his predecessors failed? Russia's short-sighted campaign in Chechnya might cost them heavily in the long run. 21 years ago, the mighty Soviet Empire invaded a small rugged country, Afghanistan, with the Soviet dream of reaching the warm water of Indian Ocean. The rag tag army of Afghan Mujahideen jolted the world and retaliated with a devastating blow that shattered Soviet arrogance and initiated the chain of her collapse within a decade. Arrogant people can not read the writings of the wall.

The western world has pinned too much hope on Yeltsin who, like former Soviet bosses in the Kremlin, has turned a blind eye on reality. Russia is now as unstable as his health. As the trigger-happy generals are allowed to run amok in the Caucasus, the country is sliding toward an uncertain future. Nobody knows how Russia is going to bring her house in order. That is why the international community needs to stand up against this Russian barbarity. The meek response from the US, UK and UN is incomprehensible, given that, only recently, they acted decisively to liberate Kosova and East Timor. Russia may be a major nuclear power, but it is not above the international law. The Chechen suffering and Russian debacle can only be avoided through negotiated settlement. That is the only civilised way to solve political confrontation. With the present crisis, military intervention was neither desired nor required. Even if Russia wins the present battle militarily, she will lose the war at the end. On the other hand, if Russia withdraws her troops and allows humanitarian aid to Chechnya, that would save the Chechens from inhuman sufferings and create a positive start for discussion. Chechens are ready for that. Does Russia have the guts to do the same?

Russia must be made to believe that her long-term interest lies in a negotiated settlement. The West has a strong card to convince the Kremlin leaders, and that is their economic leverage. Russia is dependent on western economic aid. If the West genuinely want to stop another conflagration in the world, they must use this economic threat in order to bring Russia into the negotiating table. The leadership in Kremlin is aware of their economic fragility. The fact that Chechnya is till within Russian Federation should not dissuade the West from playing its international obligation. It they can do that in Kosova, why can't in Russia?