Trends in State Terrorism: Russia mends ways with Chechnya.  - By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

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As the US president Barack Obama is seen in hectic diplomatic efforts to reach out to the regions hitherto left outside the US active diplomatic domains, Russia is also making positive efforts to make peace with freedom seeking Chechnya, one of the Muslim nations the Tsarist Russia annexed in the past. Chechens have been fighting for re-independence from the Kremlin for centuries now having lost thousands of lives.  

Ever since USSR split in 1992, Russia has been in conflict with Chechen radicals seeking an independent Islamist Chechen state, earlier supported by the West and thousands of Chechens have laid their lives for freedom. Chechnya borders Georgia, which fought a war with Russia in August. On April 16 the Kremlin declared that the counterterrorist operation in Chechnya was over, effectively ending a security regime imposed in September 1999 when federal troops poured into the North Caucasus republic and squashed separatists. The decision marks the official end of the second Chechen war of 1990s, even though open hostilities ceased several years ago, and promises to bolster the standing of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, whose heavy-handed rule has drawn sharp criticism from opposition members and human rights groups. President Dmitry Medvedev instructed the National Anti-Terrorism Committee to end the security regime from midnight 16 April. "This decision aims to create conditions to further normalize the situation in the region and to restore and develop its economic and social infrastructure," the committee said in a statement, Itar-Tass reported. The committee, chaired by Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov, was created in 2006 by then-President Vladimir Putin as the top coordinating body to fight “terrorism”.

Chechen leader Kadyrov welcomed the news as historical. "Today the Chechen people are celebrating victory over terrorism and extremism. I cannot put all my feelings into words. April 16 will be a special day from now on," he said. Celebrations erupted in Grozny as word of the Kremlin's decision spread. News agency pictures showed cars driving in the city center with large Chechen and Russian flags hanging from the windows. A crowd watched children in national dress dancing on a downtown square adorned with a giant billboard of Kadyrov. Kadyrov said he thought federal troops should remain in Chechnya but argued that this was just because of its geographical location. "Our republic is a border region, and Russian troops are stationed here not because there is a danger from banditry and terrorism but in case of an outside threat," he said. Kadyrov recently called for the return of rebel leaders, but with little success. At the same time, a number of his exiled foes have been killed in contract-style attacks. The most prominent victim, Sulim Yamadayev, was gunned down in Dubai on March 28. Kadyrov has denied involvement in the murders.  

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Russia officially ended what it called its counterterrorism operation in the southern region of Chechnya with an announcement that carried symbolic weight as the end of a decade of Muslim “separatist battles” for independence. The announcement also underscored the success of Chechnya’s strongman president, Ramzan Kadyrov, in establishing a fragile stability that has, among other things, allowed rebuilding to begin in Grozny, the obliterated capital. The Interior Ministry said last month that 20,000 of its troops stationed in Chechnya would leave should the counterterrorist operation end. But it appears the arrangement will leave more than 10,000 federal troops there.  Critics, who don’t want peace in Chechnya, said that the relative stability in Chechnya has been bought at the high price of letting Kadyrov rule with little regard to laws and human rights. They also note that attacks by Islamic militants have largely shifted to the neighboring regions of Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Russia, however, did not mention troop withdrawals, though Russian officials said they would now have more legal leeway to scale down the number of federal military and security forces. While the violence in Chechnya has declined, it seemed likely that many troops and security forces could remain for some time. Under the security regime, extra federal troops were deployed to Chechnya, travel was restricted, and journalists had to obtain special federal permission to enter the republic. In the near term the decision to end the operation could serve to mask the many problems still associated with Chechnya and its leadership. It was just three weeks ago that Sulim Yamadayev, a former Chechen general and a leading opponent of Kadyrov, was assassinated in Dubai, UAE - a murder that resembled similar killings of the Chechen president’s enemies in recent months. 

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 Post-Soviet Russia has implemented three different methods for controlling "Ichkeria," the name for the historical part of Chechnya that was occupied by the tsarist army in 1852 and romanticized by Chechen nationalists in the early 1990s as a symbol of resistance to Russia. But for all of the seeming differences in these three approaches, they have one thing in common: They did not resolve the problem of how to fully integrate Chechnya into Russia as it is impossible to do so.  The first method for dealing with Chechnya could be termed "administrative autism." It was applied from 1991 to 1994 & from 1996 to 1999, when Moscow only pretended that Chechnya was part of Russia. In reality, Chechnya did not pay taxes to the federal budget or obey Russian laws. The second approach was to use the Putin’s “siloviki” to stifle Chechen freedom movements with brutality. Even now, the use of force was necessary to neutralize the “separatist threat” that “militants” posed to Russian -- and even Eurasian -- security. But when Moscow applied that method in 1995 and 1999, it should have been kept within a strict legal framework to avoid the widespread abuses by military and police forces. The third approach can be termed the Kremlin’s positive approach or "Chechenization of authority." This involved handing over full authority to the republic's elite in exchange for a formal demonstration of loyalty to Moscow. This tactic was applied in the early 2000s. At that time, the Kremlin did not take the traditional approach of relying on pro-Russian Chechens who had fought on the Russian side during previous military operations in the Caucasus. Instead, Moscow placed its bets on former Chechen field commanders and separatist ideological leaders -- for example, former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, who had been in conflict with radicals seeking an independent Islamist Chechen state. The Kremlin reached a sort of social contract with the freedom leaders whereby they could fulfill most of their nationalist goals within Chechnya as long as the republic formally remained part of Russia. At the same time, they were given an unprecedented amount of authority and autonomy not enjoyed by any other republic in Russia. Moscow also turned a blind eye to the violent methods that the Russo-Chechen leadership used to quell the insurgents.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechnya has been perhaps the most troubled region in Russia, the site of two wars that caused thousands of deaths. The second war began in 1999, under President Boris Yeltsin, after explosions at several apartment buildings in Moscow and elsewhere that killed hundreds. The government blamed Chechen fighters for the bombings and sent forces to the republic. The military assault was coordinated by Vladimir Putin, then and now Russia’s prime minister. The strong-armed response bolstered Putin’s image, helping him win election as the country’s president in 2000. In 2007 Putin gave Kadyrov the task of cleaning up after the Russian campaign and ending the insurgency. Kadyrov moved with speed and brutality, killing rebel leaders while also granting amnesty to separatist fighters in exchange for their loyalty. Human rights groups have accused his government of employing kidnapping, torture and extrajudicial executions to meet these ends.

Chechnya was formally a part of Russia, although federal officials, including tax and border services, could not operate there. Hopes of economic benefits also rest on a plan to allow international flights at Grozny’s airport. Kadyrov said in early March that the airport would likely receive international status in the spring, adding that Putin had promised to open a customs terminal there. Kadyrov said that change would have big benefits for the local economy. "We will now increase construction activities and boost our appeal to investors," he said. Timur Aliyev, an adviser to Kadyrov, said by telephone from Grozny that while investors have been wary of Chechnya, "now it is possible to say that there is no more danger."  Chechnya, largely destroyed in two separatist wars in 15 years, earned just 5 percent of its budget last year, with the rest of its financial needs covered by federal coffers. The federal government has spent billions of dollars rebuilding the war-torn Chechnya republic. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last summer announced a $4.7 billion program for the next four years, signaling a sharp rise in spending. The federal government spent roughly half of that amount over the previous six years to create jobs and fund construction projects, the Regional Development Ministry said. Ilyukhin said federal aid for Chechnya had risen out of proportion with other spending needs. "We spend more than our annual subsidies for national agriculture. We have fed Kadyrov enough," he said.

 Post-Script

Globally, state terroirsm over years has taken a big toll of Muslim lives, but the the internaitonal bodies, controlled by the same state terrorists, watch the flowing Islamic blood around the world with seemingly sadistic pleassure. 

The Kremlin’s decision is seen as a victory for both Vladimir Putin and President Kadyrov, who has long made ending the Russian operation a major policy goal in his drive for greater autonomy from Moscow.  Kadyrov said the end of the counterterrorist operation signified victory over terrorism in Chechnya and a return to normalcy. “We have come a long way to this day,” he said at a news conference, according to a transcript on his Web site. “Today we have confirmed that our republic is the most peaceful and safest region of Russia”. This is a demonstration that he is able to beat out the federal center and to gain political space for the Chechen government.

What has been the result of this Chechenization policy? Today, fewer terrorist attacks are committed in Chechnya than in Dagestan, and only a few insurgent groups are still calling for the republic to break away from Russia. What's more, Chechen's political elite are much more allegiant to President Dmitry Medvedev and Putin than leaders of other Caucasus republics. It would be difficult to describe Chechnya as peaceful, but Kadyrov has attained "stability" in the Russian and Chechen definition of the word. Nonetheless, this stability has come at a very high price. Kadyrov has fulfilled the dreams of the republic's leaders of the early 1990s. He has created his own version of an independent Ichkeria -- and best of all, Kadyrov was able to do it without fighting Moscow. The policy was placed in the hands of Akhmad Kadyrov, but following his assassination in 2004, it was passed on to his son, Ramzan Kadyrov. Today, Ramzan Kadyrov sets his own political agenda and allows public debate and even criticism of the Federal Security Service and Rosneft -- normally considered "sacred cows" by the Kremlin. Kadyrov granted his own form of amnesty to former insurgents and reducing Russia’s military presence on Chechen soil.

Today, the discussion centers on the price for keeping Chechnya as a subordinate republic within the Russian Federation. How much control does Moscow really hold over Chechnya? Is Chechnya proving to be a case of the tail wagging the dog? The answers to these questions throw doubt on the effectiveness of the power vertical built by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The widespread human rights violations in Chechnya, which used to be a rallying point for opposition groups both within Russia and in the West, now attract far less attention than they once did. But at first glance, it would seem that the recent murder of Sulim Yamadayev in Dubai placed the “Chechnya problem" again in the spotlight after several years of being in the shadows. A researcher for Human Rights Watch said that while lifting the security regime might have positive effects, there was no reason to rejoice. "We have no positive signs on the ground yet. Chechnya is outside of Russian laws. It remains to be seen if the situation will improve," as a report about arson attacks on the homes of relatives of former rebels who had fled the country has created sensation in the region.

All said and done, Russia is slightly different from the so-called “democratic” world led by USA-Israel-India combine, for, it makes efforts to do what it tells, unlike others and one can hope for a strong Chechnya in future. The seeming peace, however, has been achieved now in Chechnya through campaigns of unsparing brutality that has included extreme human rights violations. And inside Chechnya, the situation is not as rosy as it is depicted by Kadyrov and the Kremlin.  The number of official bombings, retaliatory “terrorist” attacks and murders as in the past remains high; they occur every week. One commentator said:  “It is a fairy tale that Chechnya has become a stable region. As a positive tendency, Russia’s National Antiterrorist Committee said in a statement that the decision to end hostilities was made “to guarantee conditions for the further normalization of the situation in the republic and for the development of its social and economic spheres.”

Moscow would continue to wield influence in Chechnya. Viktor Ilyukhin, a Communist State Duma deputy and former member of the parliament's security committee said the Kremlin's decision was necessary but that he was worried about its political implications. "On the one hand it is unavoidable because the security regime greatly hampers the republic's development. On the other hand I do not have full trust in Kadyrov," he said. "Who can guarantee that no rebels will descend from the mountains after the troops have gone?" he asked. That is the usual tactics of those who want to control alien nations. US president Bush argued the same way with regard to withdrawing terror forces from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

One thing looks certain the Russians are sincere in their endeavors and Putin and Medvedev have showcased their resolve to strengthen the presidency ad resolve their problems including Chechnya. Putin once promised if the Chechens behave well the Kremlin could consider granting them independence in due course, but he said this indirectly. Today, the scenario emerging in Russia, when Moscow has emerged a strong economy, vindicates his position as efforts are seemingly underway to let Chechnya become independent, but would remain pro-Russia. After all, Russian traditions showcase some positive trends too. Soviet leader M. Gorbachev dissolved the mighty Soviet Union for specific reasons when the western anti-communist world least expected that.   

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Yours Sincerely,

Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Columnist & Independent Researcher in World Affairs, The only Indian to have gone through entire India
South Asia.