Navid
03-22-2004, 11:34 PM
Reading this article is interesting, BUT i dont how true it is? i mean who the hell are the russians sapposed to fight? can somebody read this article and explaine to me why in gods name we got to this situation??
FEATURE-Who's the rebel now? Lines blur in Chechnya
By Oliver Bullough
GROZNY, Russia, March 23 (*******) - For Moscow, it is simple: Chechen rebels are terrorists and must be destroyed.
But on the ground in Chechnya, government supporters and rebels are sometimes hard to tell apart.
Rebels who change sides are absorbed into the pro-Russian government's ranks without question. Many do not demand independence, while the government is increasingly assertive towards Moscow.
Moscow's bearded footsoldiers in the region, with their mismatched uniforms, Kalashnikovs, and habit of firing volleys of gunfire as wedding parties drive past not only look like the people who defeated Russia in 1996 -- they are the same people.
In Argun, just east of the regional capital Grozny, one 25-year-old member of the thousands-strong Security Service said most of his comrades were rebels who had changed sides.
"We nearly all were," he said, as he leaned against a wall and chain-smoked. "I only changed sides three months ago, before that I was up in the hills, dodging the federals."
Higher rank personnel are crossing over as well.
Top rebel Magomed Khambiyev surrendered this month, faces no criminal charges and has asked to join Moscow's side. Officials in Chechnya say they would welcome him.
Pro-Moscow Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov's son Ramzan -- the region's second most powerful man as head of the Security Service -- said he wanted rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov to come and join the government as well.
"He is a good military man, let him train our soldiers," said the burly 27-year-old in his home village of Tsenteroi in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains.
REBELS?
President Vladimir Putin vows to destroy the "terrorist" Maskhadov, and refuses to negotiate with him. His peace plan centred around a referendum last year to anchor Chechnya in Russia and internationally criticised elections won by Kadyrov.
Maskhadov spearheaded the drive that forced Moscow first to the negotiating table and then to grant Chechnya de facto independence in 1997, but Ramzan Kadyrov spoke highly of the former Soviet colonel.
"Maskhadov is an educated man...We need such people and it's right to make use of them. He should not be president, but he should be military commander," he told reporters.
Politically, the two sides are closer than Putin says. Rebels who ran Chechnya until Putin sent troops back in 1999 now speak vaguely of compromise -- some form of autonomy within Russia perhaps, with current guerrillas invited to participate.
Kadyrov, on the other hand, is making increasingly tough demands of Moscow.
Last month, he demanded Russia pay transit fees for the gas that crosses Chechen territory on its way to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian newspapers reported.
He wants control of the military campaign to be handed to his government, and his long-term demand that all revenues from Chechen oil should revert to Grozny is a major stumbling block in Moscow's attempts to define Chechnya's status.
LINES BLURRED
Hardline rebels, who have staged a string of suicide bombings in the Caucasus and Moscow, refuse to consider any compromise with Russia. But moderates take a line more conciliatory than Kadyrov's.
"No one is talking about independence any more," top rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev told ******* in a recent interview in London, where he is in exile.
Kadyrov says only former rebels have insight into rebel plans required to catch their former comrades-in-arms. But Zakayev says the presence of former separatists in Kadyrov's ranks has undermined Moscow's rule.
"Money for our armed forces comes from Russia, it comes via Kadyrov's administration. There is not one minister, manager or village head who does not give us money," he said.
"While the Kadyrov administration continues, we will never have trouble with our finances."
03/22/04 21:03 ET
Copyright 2003 ******* Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of ******* content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of *******. ******* shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
FEATURE-Who's the rebel now? Lines blur in Chechnya
By Oliver Bullough
GROZNY, Russia, March 23 (*******) - For Moscow, it is simple: Chechen rebels are terrorists and must be destroyed.
But on the ground in Chechnya, government supporters and rebels are sometimes hard to tell apart.
Rebels who change sides are absorbed into the pro-Russian government's ranks without question. Many do not demand independence, while the government is increasingly assertive towards Moscow.
Moscow's bearded footsoldiers in the region, with their mismatched uniforms, Kalashnikovs, and habit of firing volleys of gunfire as wedding parties drive past not only look like the people who defeated Russia in 1996 -- they are the same people.
In Argun, just east of the regional capital Grozny, one 25-year-old member of the thousands-strong Security Service said most of his comrades were rebels who had changed sides.
"We nearly all were," he said, as he leaned against a wall and chain-smoked. "I only changed sides three months ago, before that I was up in the hills, dodging the federals."
Higher rank personnel are crossing over as well.
Top rebel Magomed Khambiyev surrendered this month, faces no criminal charges and has asked to join Moscow's side. Officials in Chechnya say they would welcome him.
Pro-Moscow Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov's son Ramzan -- the region's second most powerful man as head of the Security Service -- said he wanted rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov to come and join the government as well.
"He is a good military man, let him train our soldiers," said the burly 27-year-old in his home village of Tsenteroi in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains.
REBELS?
President Vladimir Putin vows to destroy the "terrorist" Maskhadov, and refuses to negotiate with him. His peace plan centred around a referendum last year to anchor Chechnya in Russia and internationally criticised elections won by Kadyrov.
Maskhadov spearheaded the drive that forced Moscow first to the negotiating table and then to grant Chechnya de facto independence in 1997, but Ramzan Kadyrov spoke highly of the former Soviet colonel.
"Maskhadov is an educated man...We need such people and it's right to make use of them. He should not be president, but he should be military commander," he told reporters.
Politically, the two sides are closer than Putin says. Rebels who ran Chechnya until Putin sent troops back in 1999 now speak vaguely of compromise -- some form of autonomy within Russia perhaps, with current guerrillas invited to participate.
Kadyrov, on the other hand, is making increasingly tough demands of Moscow.
Last month, he demanded Russia pay transit fees for the gas that crosses Chechen territory on its way to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian newspapers reported.
He wants control of the military campaign to be handed to his government, and his long-term demand that all revenues from Chechen oil should revert to Grozny is a major stumbling block in Moscow's attempts to define Chechnya's status.
LINES BLURRED
Hardline rebels, who have staged a string of suicide bombings in the Caucasus and Moscow, refuse to consider any compromise with Russia. But moderates take a line more conciliatory than Kadyrov's.
"No one is talking about independence any more," top rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev told ******* in a recent interview in London, where he is in exile.
Kadyrov says only former rebels have insight into rebel plans required to catch their former comrades-in-arms. But Zakayev says the presence of former separatists in Kadyrov's ranks has undermined Moscow's rule.
"Money for our armed forces comes from Russia, it comes via Kadyrov's administration. There is not one minister, manager or village head who does not give us money," he said.
"While the Kadyrov administration continues, we will never have trouble with our finances."
03/22/04 21:03 ET
Copyright 2003 ******* Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of ******* content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of *******. ******* shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.