The recent massacre in the Beslan School in North Ossetia and the terrorist attack by Shamil Basayev, a determined and apparently ruthless leader, had all the makings of high drama as well as tragedy. But the results, so far, are a series of mistakes that can only make things worse for everyone in Russia and nearby Chechnya. This sequence of events might yet be halted if Russian leader Vladimir Putin could bring himself to stop the next mistake before it happens. But only Putin can end it before the cycle of tragedy continues.
I am no expert on Chechnya. I do know, however, that time will just make the problem worse. Only a powerful leader willing to take political risks can find a solution.
To keep the subject as simple as possible, I suggest two references or articles. The first is by Richard Pipes, emeritus professor of history at Harvard and the author of “A Concise History of the Russian Revolution”. First let me say that Richard Pipes must not be confused with his son, Daniel, who is one of the worst American Zionists on record. Ignore that and read Richard Pipes’ article in the Sept. 9 New York Times.
Then read an in-depth article written by C. J. Chivers, from Moscow in the Sept.15 New York Times. It is about Shamil Basayev, the man who carried out the brutal massacre in Beslan, killing at least 300 children and adults. Chiver’s article gives a multidimensional portrait of a man who has suffered greatly at the hands of the Russian secret police.
Basayev has been a freedom fighter for a very long time. But he might have chosen a different route if he had had alternatives.
His first terrorist act was in 1991. He seized a passenger plane in the southern Russian resort city of Mineralniye Vody, not far from Chechnya, with hijackers armed with pistols and grenades. He forced the aircraft to fly to Turkey and then to Grozny, the Chechen capital. He then let all of the passengers leave unharmed, although one flight attendant suffered a miscarriage.
Next Basayev fought in several battles, both on the side of the Russians and later on the side of the Taleban. At some point the Russian federal security service, or FSB, set out to kill Basayev and his entire family in 1994. Basayev lived but 11 of his relatives, including his wife, two daughters and a brother were killed. Basayev now has become the most hated man in Russia.
The complexities of Basayev would make an article in itself and at the end, Chivers only recounts the facts but does not become judgmental. The one thing that is unmistakable, however, is that when the Russian secret police decided to liquidate this Chechen leader, they used extraordinarily cruel means to try to accomplish their goal. He is clearly a man obsessed by revenge for the loss of his relatives. He has also lost a foot rather recently from a land mine explosion. He works with carefully laid plans and, along with his Chechen countrymen, is very thorough in whatever he does.
The Muslim Chechens have been battling their Russian conquerors for centuries. At the end of World War II Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had most of the population of Chechnya exiled to Kazakhstan. After Stalin’s death Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev allowed them to return to their homeland, but the Chechens remained deeply dissatisfied under Russian rule.
The Chechens were denied the right to secede from the Russian Federation even though other former Soviet territories did so after the collapse of Soviet rule. Eventually the Chechens resorted to terrorism but with the limited ambition of forcing their secession.
A new Russian security chief, Gen. Alexander Lebed, came up with the ingenious solution of allowing the Chechens de facto sovereignty while they remained Russian citizens.
This stopgap solution might have gone on for a long period. Perhaps the Russians wanted to go back to direct Russian rule, or perhaps the Russian security authorities wanted to create a pretext to put Chechnya under undisputed control again.
A second Chechen war broke out and this has continued right up to the present day. The problem is that many Russians insist that once a part of the Russian homeland is created it can never go back to anything else or gain autonomy or independence. These are all shades of other imperialist doctrines from the past.
Kashmir started as an historical mistake and then was locked into a war that never ends. The same thing happened in Algeria, Timor, Israel-Palestine and now it is happening in Chechnya. These mistakes are only compounded until a Charles De Gaulle comes along and sets things right. Let us hope that happens soon with the Chechens and their Russian neighbors.
— Richard Curtiss is executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine.
