NEWS AND VIEWS: The current Russo-Chechen war: anti-terrorist campaign or colonial war? (08/24/03)

NEWS AND VIEWS

The current Russo-Chechen war: anti-terrorist campaign or colonial war?

by Bohdan Klid

On August 1, a suicide bomber destroyed a Russian military hospital in Mozdok, the headquarters of Russian forces fighting in Chechnya, killing more than 50 people. This latest bombing - in a string of suicide attacks that have killed about 200 people in Russia - represents an escalation in the level of violence in an already exceedingly brutal war, which in September will enter its fifth year.

A previous Russo-Chechen war of 1994-1996, also exceptionally violent, ended in stalemate and Russia's de facto recognition of Chechnya as an independent state. Russian troops were sent into Chechnya in 1994 by then president Boris Yeltsin to quash Chechen independence, declared in 1991.

It may be difficult to understand the nature of these last two wars without recognizing the deep colonial roots of the Russian-Chechen relationship - imperial rule that has featured ethnic cleansing and colonization, and horrific bouts of brutality and violent retributions in periods when Chechens have resisted or sought to throw off Russian rule.

Russia first attempted to conquer the north Caucasus in the late 18th century. In 1846, at the height of a 30-year campaign to subdue the Chechens, the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko penned "The Caucasus," condemning in sarcastic verse Russia's imperial conquest of the Caucasus region, which he described as "cloaked in blood." This bloody tradition continues to this day.

In these last two conflicts Russian forces have suffered over 15,000 killed - more than the USSR lost in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Suicide attacks and terrorist bombings attributable to or blamed on Chechen extremists have added Russian civilian deaths, even in Moscow.

In comparison, Chechen losses have been staggering - over 200,000, mostly civilians, of a pre-war population of about 1 million. Over 200,000 have been displaced, while material losses in some areas are near total: Chechnya's capital, Grozny, for instance, has been reduced to rubble. Proportionately, the Chechens have suffered greater material and human losses than either the Bosnians or Kosovar Albanians during the recent break-up of Yugoslavia.

Within Russia, criticism of the Yeltsin government's use of force to deny Chechen independence in the first war was widespread. In contrast, Russia's current president, Vladimir Putin, whose rise to power was closely linked to the outbreak of the second war in Chechnya in 1999, has remained popular among most Russians to this day, despite the heavy price being paid in blood and treasure.

This shift can be explained by a rise in nationalist and even racist sentiment among Russians in recent years, the silencing of independent media critical of the Chechen war by the Putin government, as well as its relative success in portraying the elected Chechen government of Aslan Maskahdov as linked to Islamic terrorism and criminal elements.

Outside Russia, while world leaders were sharply critical of Russia's excessive use of force in the first war, they have largely ignored the Chechens' plight in the second. After the September 11 attacks, President Putin's alacrity in supporting President George W. Bush's war on terrorism has seemingly endeared him to the American president. Tony Blair recently feted Russia's leader.

It is a fact that a minority of Chechnya's fighters are led by proponents of Islamic fundamentalism, and that Arab volunteers have fought in Chechen ranks. It is also true that Chechen criminal gangs have committed horrific and grisly crimes, including kidnappings and decapitations of foreigners, and that some of the suicide attacks have targeted or resulted in the deaths of Russian civilians.

However, this does not mean that the current war is an anti-terrorist campaign, as propagandized by Russia's government, or that the Chechens do not retain the internationally recognized right to self-determination, and even independence as a remedy to unjust and brutal colonial rule

In this latest war, most casualties on the Russian side, by far, have been military; on the Chechen side, civilian. Moreover, credible human rights organizations, while recognizing Chechen abuses, have stressed in their reports the tremendous number and range of abuses and war crimes committed by Russian forces against Chechen civilians, including mass killings, summary executions, torture and kidnappings. The Russian military have also indiscriminately shelled and bombed Chechen villages and urban areas, and have used banned weapons.

While Chechnya's elected president has consistently stated his willingness to sit down at the bargaining table with Russia's leaders, Mr. Putin has followed an uncompromisingly confrontational policy toward the Maskhadov government and its armed forces. In a throwback to the Communist era, Russia's president has appointed an interim Chechen leader, held a rigged referendum that affirmed the desire of Chechens to be forever united with Mother Russia and has scheduled an election for a new Chechen president for October.

With some reservations, world leaders seem to have countenanced this Soviet-style farce. With their understanding, President Putin may finally succeed in solving Russia's centuries-long Chechen problem, and destroy the viability of the Chechens as a nation in the process.

Dr. Bohdan Klid is research scholar and assistant director at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton.

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