Turning the pages back... October 14, 2001 (10/12/03)

Turning the pages back...

October 14, 2001

Two years ago we observed in an editorial that "a new reality has emerged throughout the world in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States with the forging of a new international coalition against terrorism. And the new reality has led to a new realpolitik." That editorial comes to mind today, in the aftermath of the stage-managed elections in Chechnya which guaranteed that Russian President Vladimir Putin's hand-picked candidate was certain to win.

Following are excerpts from our editorial of October 14, 2001.

* * *

A key role in the newly formed coalition initiated by the Bush administration is played by Russia, and ... President Putin virtually leaped at the chance provided by the new anti-terrorism coalition to brand the entire Chechen nation as "terrorists" who threaten the Russian Federation. These "Chechen terrorists," he alleged, have contacts with Osama Bin Laden.

Two weeks after the attacks on the United States, Presidential aide Sergei Yastrzhembskii reported that Moscow was pleased by Washington's shift in its comments on Chechnya ... Indeed, the United States and Germany both gave voice to Russia's demand that rebels in Chechnya lay down their arms, while omitting any references to Russia's human rights abuses in its brutal war against the Chechen nation and its freedom fighters.

This silence came as RFE/RL reported that in early October Russian troops had committed new human rights violations in Chechnya as they engaged in a "mopping-up operation" south of Grozny. ... According to Russian human-rights groups, Russia's military actions in Chechnya have led to more than 80,000 casualties.

Today the United States must welcome Russia's participation in the international coalition against terrorism, but it must be prudent as regards Russia's goals in other areas. Turning a blind eye to Russia's human rights abuses and entertaining its assertions of hegemony in the name of fighting terrorism are simply not acceptable.

Source: "Putin's 'terrorists'" (Editorial), The Ukrainian Weekly, October 14, 2001, Vol. LXIX, No. 41.

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