WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Chechens are paying a high price for Mr. Vladimir Putin's rise from obscurity to Acting President of Russia, and for his grant of immunity to former president Boris Yeltsin who was being investigated on charges of alleged corruption and embezzlement.
A series of bomb explosions in Moscow, and other Russian cities, last summer was the beginning of Putin's rise to power and popularity. According to the Economist (Editorial, January 8, 2000), "No clear evidence has yet been found for who was responsible for those bombs, and no one has claimed responsibility." But, says the Economist, given the huge benefits that Putin, and the security forces in general, have gained from those tragedies it would be foolish to rule out their role in the bombing. Indeed, the Independent (Helen Womack, "Russian agents 'blew up Moscow flats'," January 6, 2000) has obtained a videotape in which a Russian officer, Lieutenant Galtin, captured at the border between Dagestan and Chechnya while on a mine-laying mission says, "I know who is responsible for the bombings in Moscow (and Dagestan). It is the FSB (Russian security service), in cooperation with the GRU, that is responsible for the explosions in Volgodonsk and Moscow."
This confirms what Dr. Aslambek Kadiev told BBC ("A Chechen view of Russia's war," December 26, 1999) a few days earlier. Said Dr. Alambek, "There are two main reasons for the two wars which Russia has launched against Chechnya. The first is economic: Russia wants to control the Caucasus oilfields and pipeline routes. The second is connected with the political situation in Russia, and particularly inside the Kremlin." Dr. Kadiev explains, "The political purpose of the first Chechen war was to increase Boris Yeltsin's popularity and get him re-elected president in 1996. The main aim of this second war is to ensure that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a former spy and President Yeltsin's anointed heir, becomes president at the next elections. The apartment bombings in Russian cities early this year were used by Russia to justify its invasion."
Boris Yeltsin stunned Russians by announcing his resignation and saying elections will be held in 90 days for a new president. According to the Associated Press (Barry Renfrew, "Yeltsin Resigns, Turns Over Powers," January 31, 1999) "Yeltsin said he was stepping down immediately because he wanted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to succeed him. Putin then signed a decree offering Yeltsin immunity from prosecution, a lifetime pension, a government country home and bodyguards and medical care for him and his family."
The Chechens, who are paying with their lives for the Yeltsin/Putin "Wag the Dog" war, have endured 250 years of brutal Russian occupation. About one-quarter of them perished during forced exile by Stalin in 1944. Since the recent Russian war on Chechnya, an estimated 200,000 Chechen refugees have fled to Ingushetia. About 3000 have been killed, and 10,000 wounded. And 40,000 remain trapped in basements in Chechnya in sub-freezing temperatures.
Now, according to the London Times (Alice Lagnado, "Russia may resort to more powerful weapons to end a war that is going badly," January 8, 2000) may be getting ready to use vacuum bombs, and chemical weapons.
The U.S. attitude to the war in Chechnya was summed up by Madeleine Albright, and Lawrence Eagleburger.
Said the Canadian columnist, Eric Margolis ("U.S. Aids Russia's Crimes In The Caucasus," Toronto Sun, October 12, 1999), "In Moscow, standing next to her beaming Russians hosts, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright proclaimed 'we are opposed to "terrorism" - meaning Islamic rebels in the Caucasus fighting Russian rule. She said nothing about Russia's blatant violation of its 1996 treaty that granted Chechnya de facto independence. She made no protest over Moscow's egregious violation of the 1990 CFE [Conventional Forces in Europe] Treaty, the most important east-west arms reduction pact, by moving large new forces into the Caucasus."
And on a recent PBS "Newshour with Jim Lehrer," former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger rationalized Russia's genocidal war on Chechnya, saying, "They're not very nice people."
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