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Moscow Times
September 21, 2004
Moscow Must Admit Its Mistakes in Chechnya
By Diederik Lohman
Diederik Lohman, a senior researcher with the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.

After the horrendous hostage-taking in Beslan and the killing of more than 300 people, an end to the bloody cycle of retaliation tied to the Chechnya conflict seems farther away than ever. Many observers fear a harsh response by Russian troops in Chechnya, and few expect the atrocity in Beslan to be the last act of terrorism linked to the conflict.

Yet the enduring desire for peace among Chechen civilians offers hope for a different future in the region. Capitalizing on that hope, however, requires a radical change in Russia's Chechnya policy.

Soon after war broke out again in Chechnya in 1999, I visited the region and have returned many times since. Each time, I was struck by the strong yearning for peace and stability voiced by most of the Chechens I interviewed. After years of war and chaos, these Chechen men and women were visibly exhausted. They spoke with urgency of a desire for a return to a normal life. Many expressed resentment toward rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and, to a lesser extent, Aslan Maskhadov for allowing Chechnya to degenerate into a cesspool of criminality after Russia withdrew its troops in August 1996. Most never even mentioned independence for Chechnya. Instead, peace was foremost in their minds.

This desire for peace provided a unique opportunity for the Russian government. But Moscow dramatically failed to capitalize on it. Instead, the government has done everything possible to undermine any trust Chechen civilians had about its intentions in 1999. In early 2000, Russian soldiers massacred more than 100 civilians in Grozny. A relative of one of the dead told me: "We were eagerly awaiting their arrival. We believed they would restore peace and stability." Far from bringing peace, Russian troops have since "disappeared" thousands of Chechens after taking them into custody. The fate of most remains unclear, but some relatives have discovered mutilated corpses in unmarked graves.

Five years of unchecked abuses have made it infinitely more difficult to build the minimum level of trust necessary for a meaningful peace process. Yet restoring trust is the only hope for breaking the cycle of evermore horrific human rights abuses by each side. Chechens' distrust of Russia is intense but so is their longing for peace. Although abuses have fueled uncompromising hatred of Russia among parts of Chechnya's population, the vast majority of Chechens were appalled by the hostage-taking in Beslan and other terrorist attacks that have occurred in Chechnya and other parts of Russia.

As the first step toward building trust, the Russian government must curb abuses by its troops and bring the perpetrators of past abuses to justice. The haphazard steps seen in recent years will simply not do, whether it's issuing a new military edict against abuses but not enforcing it, or prosecuting an individual military officer while ignoring the bulk of the abuse. To be successful, the effort will have to be systematic and transparent.

A meaningful effort to curb abuses and prosecute their perpetrators would gradually help convince Chechen civilians that the Russian government is now acting in good faith in its Chechnya policy. Curbing abuses by Russian troops, clarifying the fate of the "disappeared" and bringing the perpetrators of "disappearances" to justice should decrease popular support for the rebels, and begin to reverse the recent process of radicalization. (Traditionally Chechens have espoused a moderate interpretation of Islam, but extremists have increasingly gained ground in the past decade). These measures would create positive momentum that could slowly increase trust and, with it, hope for the future. If sustained, a restoration of trust and hope would lay the foundations for a lasting solution to the conflict and the question Chechnya's status.

This vision for change means, however, that Russia would have to make a radical and painful break with its previous Chechnya policies. Russia's armed forces and security agencies would have to start acting in accordance with the law, rather than making up their own rules as they go. Russia would have to acknowledge publicly that its troops have committed human rights abuses on a massive scale over the last five years, and that this has undermined prospects for peace. Soldiers and officers, including those who have widely been seen as war heroes, would have to be investigated and prosecuted.

Finally, Russia would have to demonstrate considerable restraint in the face of almost unavoidable future attacks by extremists, who have a vested interest in today's downward spiral and would no doubt seek to derail Russia's new Chechnya policy.

Even in the best of circumstances, this vision would be exceedingly difficult to realize. Far from taking on this challenge, however, President Vladimir Putin appears to be moving in the opposite direction. Russia needs to confront its mistakes in a candid and open manner. Putin has acknowledged the corruption in Russia's security and border services, but he has rejected any notion of accountability. Instead, in his speech to the nation after the hostage crisis, he diverted blame to international terrorism and to his predecessors, saying that the breakup of the Soviet Union had facilitated terrorism (and implicitly blaming democracy for having allowed terrorist groups to infiltrate Russia and flourish). The president did not once mention Chechnya, thus consciously ignoring the fact that the roots of much of Russia's terrorism problem lie in the Chechnya conflict and the Kremlin's policies there.

By angrily denouncing anyone who questions his Chechnya policies as a supporter of child-killers, Putin has stifled any meaningful and open discussion. Although he has agreed to a parliamentary inquiry into the Beslan slaughter, his overwhelming sway over the State Duma and Federation Council makes it highly unlikely that either inquiry will yield any results that have not been explicitly approved by the Kremlin. His proposal to reform the composition of parliament moves toward less, rather than more, accountability. We can certainly not expect anything resembling the 9/11 commission's investigation into the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C.

Finally, Putin has opportunistically chosen to use the Beslan tragedy to push his political agenda. The sweeping political reforms he announced this week will expand his already enormous personal power in Russia, but they are unlikely to have much real effect on the fight against terrorism.

By failing to admit his mistakes and learn from them, Putin is squandering the only hope for ending the escalating cycle of mutual abuse that is driving the conflict in Chechnya.