#6536 #6537 #6538
#7 - JRL 6536
Ruslan Khasbulatov Tells Le Monde: Putin Submits to
Military Over Chechnya
Le Monde
4 November 2002
[translation for personal use only]
Report by Natalie Nougayrede: "Mr Putin 'Hostage'
of Military, Former Soviet Leader Says"
Moscow -- Former chairman of the Supreme Soviet, which Boris Yeltsin attacked in October 1993, with tank fire, Ruslan Khasbulatov is a veteran observer of the political upheavals of post-Soviet Russia. A Chechen professor of economics in Moscow, he has in recent months been a member of a select group of Russian political figures who have tried to "lay the groundwork for negotiations" to take place with a view to a political settlement in Chechnya. Meetings have been held in Switzerland and Liechtenstein between Russian and Chechen representatives, without the Kremlin's supporting them or seeming to want to build on them.
The dramatic hostage taking that took place in a Moscow theater between 23 and 26 October marks a turning point in Vladimir Putin's presidency, according to Mr Khasbulatov, who appealed for a solution to the conflict "under the patronage of the Western countries, and the Europeans, first and foremost." "Since the Kremlin claims that the Chechen problem stems from 'international terrorism,' the international community must take it at its word and propose joint action, as in Afghanistan. It must interfere," he said in an interview granted to Le Monde.
Time is pressing, Mr Khasbulatov believes, citing the "radicalization of young groups of fighters in Chechnya, whose numbers are growing all the time. We can now expect an intensification of the partisan war." The risk of a regional spread of the conflict has increased, he believes. "Numerous volunteers are joining Chechen units, particularly many Daghestanis. The social situation in the northern Caucasus is very bad, with 60 percent unemployment. The cruel behavior of the Russian troops has caused a feeling of solidarity with the Chechens to emerge in the neighboring republics."
"Sources of Conflict"
Mr Khasbulatov grants little credence to the charges of links between the al-Qa'ida movement and Chechen groups, though he sharply condemned the hostage taking in Moscow. "The sources of the Chechen conflict have nothing to do with international terrorism," he said.
"Perhaps some groups, after so many years of war, have sought external help, and have perhaps been prepared to turn to any kind of devil. The fact is that the conflict has produced a generation of youngsters who, in response to the 'cleansing' of villages by the Russian army, have made war their way of life. They know nothing other than the Koran and war. And their ranks are swelling all the time."
This mediator said that he spoke, five days before the hostage taking, with Akhmed Zakayev, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov's special representative for negotiations with Moscow.
The meeting took place in Tbilisi, in Georgia. "I told him: 'listen, a serious process of preparations for political negotiations has begun. We will employ all our resources to ensure that Putin can begin to negotiate. But you must tell Maskhadov that any act of war outside Chechen territory, such as occurred at Budyenovsk -- the hostage taking at a hospital in southern Russia by a Chechen commando in 1995 -- will merely complicated out task,'" Mr Khasbulatov said. "Zakayev assured me that Mr Maskhadov had issued orders forbidding his units to conduct any such operations."
Russian President Vladimir Putin "is not in fact a supporter of this war. It is of no use to him; it is merely a blemish on his reputation, an obstacle to his policy of rapprochement with the West," Mr Khasbulatov believes. "But Mr Putin has not yet made the decision to surmount the resistance from his generals. The latter earn money and metals from this conflict, which they want to continue. Putin does not confront them directly, because he is afraid." Of what? "Of a coup d'etat!" Mr Khasbulatov said, having himself been among the leaders of an armed coup in 1993. "You must also remember that Putin is not Yeltsin. Yeltsin was a party 'veteran,' with a 30-year political career behind him. He commanded psychological authority. If a general dared to contradict in, he would dismiss him. It seems to me that Putin has become the hostage of the military. The generals do not fear him."
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