Chechnya,
Russia unable, unwilling to compromise
By WAYNE ANDERSON
Published Tuesday, November 12, 2002
The Chechens have given the Russians another black eye at the cost of 50 freedom
fighters/terrorists and more than 100 Russian civilians and tourists dead.
This situation is very different from the external terrorism threat that we
in America face and more serious in terms of the number of people who will
die before it is resolved.
In 1998, I was on a team of the University of Missouri’s International
Center for Psychosocial Trauma and met members of both sides of the conflict.
Later, a number of professionals from Chechnya spent some time with us here
in Columbia. Our team has been invited to conduct programs for Chechen teachers
and mental health workers in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia.
Sources of conflict
Because of its oil resources and its position controlling access to the Black
Sea, the province of Chechnya is critical to Russia’s economy. When times
are peaceful, the area has operating oil refineries, natural gas and pipeline
transit. An independent Chechnya would be damaging not only to Russia, but
also to the people who live there.
Chechens are a Caucasian people who have been abused by Russian governments
since the first half of the 19th century. Frequent attempts have been made
during the last 200 years to repress Chechens, culminating in Josef Stalin
dissolving the republic in 1944 and ruthlessly deporting hundreds of thousands
of its leading citizens to Kazakhstan. Unprepared for the move, many died during
the first winter.
Thirteen years later, Nikita Khruschev allowed those who lived to return home.
This kind of treatment added to the anger in the hearts of the Chechen people.
With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the resistance to Russian control again
broke into the open, and there was the war of 1994-96. Similar to the situation
the Russians faced in Afghanistan, warlords fought for control. The war devastated
the republic, and more than 80,000 people died, a considerable part of a population
of about 1 million. More sinister, however, is the fact that, with the Russians
driven out, it became a major training ground for the Russian Mafia, which
is now run by Chechens.
Chechen Mafia
When I was in Moscow with the International Center for Psychosocial Trauma
in 1998, I met with the faculty of the police academy in Moscow. They admitted
organized crime was a major problem in Russia. The police felt there was no
way they could do much about the leading criminals because the protection of
so many people in high places had been bought. If cooperation couldn’t
be bought, the resisters were killed. It appeared to be common knowledge that
Chechens were in control of organized crime, having done away with the competition.
Through the years, the Russians had either kept competent Chechens out of power
or had deposed those who came to power. The only way for an intelligent Chechen
to get power was outside the system. Their brightest men seemed to take naturally
to the skills required for successful organized crime. The corruption hit a
growth spurt during the period of peace after the outbreak of resistance in
the mid-1990s. The Chechen Mafia spread its power out over the country. Many
moved to Moscow and bought the services of influential people in Moscow. Grozny,
the capital of Chechnya, became a center for criminal activity.
