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| WAR WITHOUT END | |
 January 22, 2004  |
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Russia has fought a long civil war against the separation of its republic of Chechnya, but allegations of human-rights abuses are leading Moscow to increasingly transfer control to local authorities. Special correspondent Simon Marks looks at the war and the dim prospect for peace in Chechnya.
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JIM LEHRER: Russia 's endless war. Special correspondent Simon Marks prepared this report.
(Speaking Russian) SIMON MARKS: ...from the dawn briefings of troops... (gunfire) ...to daily armed patrols ... and to so-called bandits taken into official custody. More than a decade after the Russians first sent troops into Chechnya, the decision to welcome an American camera is part of a new diplomatic offensive by the Kremlin aimed at persuading the world that Chechnya is a haven for terrorists, a key battleground in the global war on terror. With 75,000 troops under his command, Lt. Gen. Valery Baranov oversees daily military operations in Chechnya.
SIMON MARKS: Claiming that Russia today is fighting a terrorist threat
linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization, President Vladimir
Putin has maintained a massive Russian army presence in Chechnya. Military
helicopters fly low over Chechnya and regularly fire off flares in a
bid to avoid attack by heat-seeking missiles, weaponry the Russians
insist is bought and paid for by al-Qaida's regional proxies. The Chechen
terrain is littered with the detritus of war. The airport in the capital
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| A land of few opportunities | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SIMON MARKS: That local people could be susceptible to financial inducements from Arab terror groups is not in doubt. Human rights groups estimate that half a million people have fled Chechnya since the violence began and there are few job opportunities for those who have remained or those like shoemaker Bakhhauddin Kudusov who have returned.
SIMON MARKS: In a bid to provide for themselves, many of Chechnya's
residents have turned to black-market sales of some of the black gold
that lies beneath the region's soil. There's a booming market for pirated
gasoline, a market that some critics of the war claim is |
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| The issue of security | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SIMON MARKS: And President Kadirov, a former rebel leader who switched sides in order to work with the Russians, says he has a plan for restoring security to Chechnya, a plan that is being enacted by his own son, Ramzan Kadirov. The Kadirov family personally controls a private security force that is working closely with the Russians and one day last month unearthed a large cache of buried weapons after a captured rebel reportedly chose to cooperate with the authorities following an interrogation. The haul included satellite phones, plastic explosives, landmines and rocket-propelled grenades. The Kadirovs say before long that their security teams will be ready to take full responsibility for policing Chechnya away from their Russian sponsors.
SIMON MARKS: But that leaves some outside observers fearful for Chechnya's future. They argue that the concept of essentially private militiamen seizing suspects and interrogating them without any oversight is a recipe for disaster, especially in a region where the Russian army is accused by human rights organizations of gross violations following the discovery of mass graves and the disappearance of dozens of Chechen men. Sergei Kovalyov once served as Boris Yeltsin's human rights adviser, a post he quit in protest over Russian policy in Chechnya. He says plans to hand power over to local militias will only compound the enormous human rights abuses already committed there.
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| The debate about al-Qaida's influence | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SIMON MARKS: But Sergei Kovalyov and other long-time observers of Chechnya believe that all that behavior is being justified by the Russians as part of the war on terror. The precise role al-Qaida's followers are playing in Chechnya is a matter of conjecture and controversy. The Russians and their governing partners in the region insist that al-Qaida is effectively running the Chechen resistance and certainly some Arab fighters have claimed to be playing a lead role there. There has been a string of terrorist attacks in Moscow allegedly inspired by al-Qaida, including the siege of a Moscow theater and the recent suicide bombing of a hotel opposite the Kremlin. But some analysts of Chechnya believe that Moscow is deliberately exaggerating the role Islamic fundamentalists are playing in the quest for Chechen independence. Masha Lipman is one of the Russian government's most prominent critics.
SIMON MARKS: It also detracts attention from Chechnya. News coverage from the region is carefully controlled by the Russians. Good news stories like the reopening of a railway bridge are enthusiastically reported by Russian television networks which are all now loyal to the Kremlin. The rest of the Chechnya story never makes it to air. Valentina Melnikova advises the mothers of many young Russian soldiers who suddenly find themselves sent to Chechnya.
SIMON MARKS: Galina Petrova traveled to Moscow from Ufa in central Russia, seeking help after her 19-year-old son was sent to Chechnya in early December.
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| Chechnya is not a Russian political issue | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SIMON MARKS: But while Chechnya troubles those it directly effects, it is not a national political issue in Russia. The war played no role at all in last month's parliamentary election campaign and shows no sign of being an issue in Vladimir Putin's reelection battle this coming March. Instead, the territory seems set to remain the focus of a standoff between those who argue that Russia is continuing to commit age-old crimes in Chechnya. SERGEI OVALYOV ( Translated ): Russia has no moral right to continue playing a major role in Chechnya. The Chechens remember history perfectly well. They remember the wars of the last two centuries. They remember being deported by Stalin in the 1920s. Now, they remember these two latest wars. How is the Russian federation planning to teach the Chechens law and order? It's absurd. SIMON MARKS: And those who say that Chechnya is part of Russia to stay. LT. GEN. VALERY BARANOV ( Translated ): Everything Chechen is ours. It's Russian. It all belongs to the Russian state. And working here every day, we understand better than anyone else how difficult war can be. But we came here to bring order. SIMON MARKS: It's a standoff that ten years on leaves the region no closer to achieving peace and security. The Russian military mission, once greeted with universal international condemnation, today attracts more muted criticism as the Russians link it to the war on terror. |
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SIMON
MARKS: This is the side of Chechnya the Russian government wants you
to see. For a week in November, the Russian authorities allowed a U.S.
television photographer to embed himself with the military in Chechnya.
He was given extensive access to Russian military operations in the
breakaway region... 
LT.
GEN. VALERY BARANOV (Translated): We should not be mistaken about international
terrorism, that it's only directed towards the United States. The first
steps were made here, on the territory of the Chechen republic. Therefore,
we should avoid thinking that international terrorism is only aimed
against the United States, and that it is not aimed against the Russian
federation in Chechnya. 
Grozny
is closed, its runways strewn with destroyed planes that at some point
in the last ten years got caught in the crossfire. At dawn, troops with
the Russian interior ministry are briefed about a dangerous mission
that lies ahead. The roads in Chechnya are often lined with landmines
and other improvised explosive devices. So like U.S. forces in Iraq,
the Russian army here fights a daily battle to clear the streets and
keep its own troops safe. Leading his men out on the de-mining mission,
Lt. Col. Alexei Vasilyev, who says young Chechens are paid by terrorist
organizations to plant explosives all over the territory. 
LT.
COL. ALEXEI VASILYEV (Translated): Mostly young people set up these
bombs. They're attracted by money. Some of them are not even qualified
for this work. We've had occasions when people who set up the explosives
get blown up themselves. They're recruited from the local population.
BAKHHAUDDIN
KUDUSOV (Translated ): It's difficult to make this factory work, because
all the experienced workers have left. The biggest problem now is that
we don't have qualified employees, specialists. Everyone is trying to
find a job because there isn't much work around. There are no jobs here,
only in the police force. We work all day long here, and don't even
make $50 a month. 
controlled
in part by the Russian army. Perhaps mindful of that, troops took our
photographer on a raid targeting an illegal refinery. (Explosion) Crude
underground storage tanks were blown up -- the Russians told us that
the proceeds from the illegal oil sales were being used to fund acts
of terror -- stopping the flow of funds and support to terrorist organizations
is, say Chechnya's rulers, a top priority. Akhmad Kadirov is the Kremlin-backed
president of Chechnya. He won office last October in a vote the Bush
administration said fell short of being free and fair.
AKHMAD
KADIROV ( Translated ): Security is the most important issue. If the
republic is secure, then investors can come here. If the situation here
is normal, then people will come back. That's why the main task today
is to provide security. 
RAMZAN
KADIROV ( Translated ): It's no secret there are Turks and Arabs and
people from a whole bunch of other nations making their nest here and
making Chechnya their base. That's why it's so difficult for us to get
rid of them. They are professionals. We have to end the killings and
put them all in prison. 
SERGEI
KOVALYOV ( Translated ): If you look at the so-called security forces
of Kadirov, these are the worst bandits. They're far worse than the
federal forces. These people, armed from head to toe, know no borders.
They're the boss in Chechnya. They can beat, kill, kidnap anyone, whether
it's a bureaucrat they don't like or a policeman or a civilian.
MASHA
LIPMAN: President Putin's reaction to the recent terrorist attacks lately
has been, "See, international terrorism is very powerful; international
terrorism is acting everywhere in the world, and it's merciless, and
it calls for more cooperation and for merciless extermination of terrorism."
It is clear, however, that international terrorism has a very weak bearing
on what goes on in Chechnya. And Putin would rather talk about international
terrorism because this detracts the responsibility off himself. 
VALENTINA
MELNIKOVA (Translated ): We have parents who send their kids to the
army year after year and they are absolutely sure that they will never
be sent to participate in military actions. They think there's no war,
because the president said we won it. 
GALINA
PETROVA ( Translated ): He wrote me a letter telling me that he's going
to Chechnya. As soon as I received it, I immediately bought train tickets
and came here. I don't think they're telling us the truth. The coffins
keep coming. One guy from a nearby town died. He was a border guard
and was shot. He was supposed to come home this spring. When I received
the letter from my son, it made me go crazy.