What to do about Chechnya after Maskhadov ?

When I first heard that Aslan Maskhadov--the former president of the self-proclaimed separatist Republic of Chechnya and the nominal head of the separatist insurgency--was killed by the Russian Special Forces, my reaction was quite a mixed one. On the one hand, I agree that he was probably the last separatist with whom Moscow could have struck a deal acceptable to both Russia and Chechnya. With all his faults, he was a democratically elected leader of the breakaway Russian Republic. Also I have a deep anger at the Kremlin thugs for starting twice in the past decade despicably savage, barbaric and callous Chechen Wars. While I am reluctant to criticize soldiers/police who face a guerilla campaign, ambushes, surprise attacks and suicide bombings and death almost on daily basis, the fact is that at the Kremlin behest the various Federal or local pro-Federal military and paramilitary units engage in numerous crimes ("cleansing operations" often resulting in arbitrary arrests, detentions, executions, torture and disappearences of local inhabitants, lootings, beatings, etc.) against local population. And it is not only the Russian conduct of these wars--the wars itself were completely unnecessary to keep Chechnya as a part of Russia. The Putin-Yeltsin-Kremlin mafia neglected profoundly effective millienia old Imperial tactic known since Roman times of dealing with barbarians- divide [seduce, entice] and conquer. Neither Aslan Maskhadov, nor his predecessor Johar Dudayev were fanatical Islamists. They were both retired high-ranking Soviet Military officers with a normal Soviet mentality. They could have been brought to the Kremlin fold with numerous perks, including high governmental posts, large share of the oil proceeds, etc. Had the carrot approach failed, the Kremlin could have brought Chechen Separatist Leadership in line with a stick of economic/military blockade. Kremlin also could have asked for International pressure on the Chechen leadership to accept the arrangements with Moscow. From a number of options to deal with initially non-Islamist Chechen separatism, the Kremlin gremlins had consistently been choosing the worst possible. The results are horrifying--the quarter of pre-1994 1 million large Chechen population are dead, another quarter are refugees or internally displaced persons, and the rest is simply reduced to substinent living. They also are potential victims of essentially lawless numerous Russian Federal military or police units and local pro-Moscow paramilitary formations who periodically kidnap, torture, kill or free-for-ransom ordinary Chechens. This is the reality of Chechnya today. A lot of Russian units (not all but many) behave there like the hordes of Ghenghis Khan or Hitler on their own territory against their own citizens.

However, it is also the neglect of the truth to downplay the role of Islamic extremism and global Jihad in the separatist insurgency. We also must not forget that it was Maskhadov refusal in the late 1990's to confront Wahhabists (the radical Islamic sect) and its most fanatical adherents Shamil Basayev and Khattab that turned Chechnya into a beachhead of radical Islam in the Russian North Caucasus. It was the Maskhadov conscious choice not to neutralize these two Caucasian Che Guevarras/Bin Ladens to avoid the possibility of armed conflict inside Chechnya. Maskhadov neutrality allowed Basayev and Khattab to operate with impunity, and it ended up with their invasion of the neighboring Russian Republic of Dagestan in summer of 1999 to spread the Islamist insurgency across the North Caucasus. This Dagestani adventure (along with unexplained series of Apartment bombings in Moscow and other Russian Cities blamed on Basayev and Khattab) became the formal ground for resuming the major hostilities between Russian Federation and the separatist Chechnya. Of course Shamil Basayev is the chief architect of the numerous terrorist attacks inside Russia, including Budionnovsk in 1995, Moscow Theatre in 2002 and most recently and horrifically, the school in Beslan in 2004. We have no hard evidence that Maskhadov supported, condoned or participated in any of the Basayev actions. However, Maskhadov by refusing to deal with Basayev early on became also indirectly liable for all the Basayev terrorist activities. This is the reason why I am not subscribing to many of the statements made by American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) and other prominent critics of Kremlin policies toward Chechnya. Zbignev Brzezinskiy, the ACPC co-chairman and well-known political analyst, said the following in reaction to the killing of Maskhadov: “The Chechens now have a symbol of resistance that will further fortify their determination to be free.” This statement made more out of disgust toward Kremlin exceptionally brutal and stupid conduct of the war rather then out of calm analysis of the situation. Whose determination will be "fortified"? Will it be Basayev's and his ilk ? They will be "free" to do what ? Stage more Beslan-like attacks ? The death of Maskhadov means that the worst and meanest Islamist insurgents will take his place, and they will definitely have no qualms against using any terror tactics against Russia. What we likely to see is a complete "Islamonazification" of the insurgency with the aim of not simply breaking Chechnya away from Russia, but spreading the Jihad throughout North Caucasus and beyond. If you don't believe me, read the kavkazcenter.com( English or Russian version)--the semiofficial site of Chechen/North Caucasus Islamist Insurgency. You will find a plenty of articles there praising "Jihad" and "martyrdom" and the calls to destroy or Islamize (in the image of Jihadists of course) Russia. You will find also a plenty of vitriol against the United States presense in Iraq (Iraqi head chopping, suicide bombing terrorist insurgency is called "resistance" of course), the exultation of Palestinian suicide bombing against Israel and plenty of other Jihadist rhetoric. Judge for yourself whether it is a voice of liberty or something else. It makes me sick to the stomach when American and other Western Media organizations ("Washington Post", "Wall Street Journal", "BBC", "CNN", etc.) call Basayev and other Islamist-terrorist warlords operating in North Caucasus anything other than terrorists. Just think about it how they call masterminds of Beslan and other atrocities: "militants", "resistance fighters", "violent activists". It shows how modern liberalism completely substituted clear and transcendent moral standards with emotions when judging behavior of individuals or political movements and became in the words of Michael Savage a "mental disorder".

Does it mean that I suggest to accept the status-quo and condone the Kremlin behavior in Chechnya and North Caucasus ? DEFINITELY NOT! Ordinary Chechen people--not terrorists-Warlords--deserve to live in peace and security and freedom from terror (Kremlin or Jihadist) as any other Russian Citizens.
What is urgently needed is the strong leadership of the civilized world in putting a pressure on Putin regime to stop its barbaric conduct in Chechnya and other North Caucasus Republics. The goal of the Western Community should be territorial integrity and security of Russia combined with a strong and unequivocal demand that Moscow respect the basic rights (especially right to life) of its ordinary citizens, including Chechens. Let's consider the following plan out of the seemingly endless Chechen/North Caucasus conflict.

• The United States with other NATO countries offers a technical assistance to Moscow (money, military advisors, technical assistance) in dealing with Islamist Insurgency in Chechnya/North Caucasus and demands that Moscow disbands all paramilitary pro-Moscow formations (Ramzan Kadyrov unit) responsible for kidnappings, killings, disappearences, tortures and other criminal activities in Chechnya and the neighboring Dagestan, Ingushetia, etc. The Russian Government should be also pressed to reduce the size of its military formations to the level needed to effectively combat the insurgency. Many of the discredited power structures (FSB) should be simply disbanded on the North Caucasus territory.

• The United States demands from Russia to declare the emergency law in North Caucasus. Federal and local police units should be banned from conducting arbitrary arrests and detentions. This is especially considering notorious "cleansing" operations (zachistka) when unidentified military or security forces block the villages or city neighborhoods, go house to house and arrest anyone at will (i.e. military age men). Usually "zachistka" takes place in the area where security forces were previously attacked by the insurgents. Thousands of people, including the elderly and teenagers, were either tortured or killed/disappeared altogether as the results of these operations. "Zachistka" is pretty much a revenge on the local population for the insurgent activity not unlike the practices of paramilitary thugs in Colombia, Guatemala and other Latin American countries in 1960's-1990's civil wars there against Marxist Insurgents and presumably sympathetic villagers. Such operations are not simply amoral, but they also destroy the discipline and morale of the units involved and turn these units into bloodthirsty gangs--armed and dangerous. Any detention without a proper warrant should be considered a crime under strict penalty of the law. The basic rights of detainees should be respected (access to attorney, communication with relatives, etc.). If detainee is considered very dangerous, then certain privileges may be revoked, but the units/authorities who have the detainee in custody should always be identified and accountable for detainee well-being.

• Under the emergency law, the Federal and local police forces should have a right to lock down the dangerous neighborhoods or areas, establish and enforce curfews and conduct legitimate anti-insurgent military operations provided that there are absolutely no revenge attacks ("zachistka") on the local population for insurgent activity in a given area or any other arbitrary detentions.

• The United States puts a pressure on Moscow to conduct the thorough investigation of the behavior of its Armed Forces during two Chechen Wars. Specifically, Russian government should be pressured to investigate and prosecute those who gave the order to conduct "zachistkas", kidnappings, mass executions and other crimes. Of course the primarly responsibility for these atrocities lies with Putin and Kremlin, but its important to start with smaller fish before getting to a top one.

• Chechnya along with other North Caucasus republics should be offered to form once proposed but never implemented single North Caucasus republic with a special status within Russian Federation. The laws of North Caucasus republic should reflect many of the centuries-old traditions of highland people excluding bloody vendettas of clan against clan or any other activity specifically prohibited by Russian Constitution. North Caucasus republic natives and inhabitants should be freed from military conscription in the Russian Military. The republic should be able to set its own rules for residency that may be different from the rest of Russian Federation.

• The North Caucasus natives should be able to form their corporations that will control (with some exceptions) the use of land, water, oil and other natural resources in the area. The corporations may be made only from natives and with transferrable rights of ownership only to other natives. This arrangement is similar to the one currently enjoyed by the native tribes in the state of Alaska (Eskimo, Indians).

Any plan that would insure Russian Territorial integrity while providing the basic rights protection to the local population should be offered to the Kremlin. If Putin and Co. refuse the workable plan for Chechnya/North Caucasus that respects legitimate Russian Interests for security and territorial integrity, United States and other countries should not hesitate to put a political pressure on the regime. It certainly does not need to involve any military action. The range of options available is wide and open--the threats to fund opposition parties, travel ban to Putin and Kremlin officials to any NATO country, arrest of the accounts believed to be connected to the Kremlin, targeted sanctions and so on. The state-sponsored terrorism against the entire population is despicable and amoral that should not be tolerated as a policy tool.