Russian DM: "Israeli Methods" Will Be Used Against Chechens

...A civil war is in full swing in Chechnya. The atrocities committed by the federal forces on an everyday basis have intensified in the aftermath of the bloody ending of the Moscow theatre hostage crisis two month ago.

Extrajudicial executions and disappearances have become routine, the ugly twist in the tale being the fact that these crimes are committed by ethnic Chechens against their compatriots acting on behalf of the government of Ahmad Kadyrov. "Directed and cleansing operations" are the terms the political establishment uses to describe that which will eventually be called "crimes against the humanity". Mass graves will surface once the war is over for which the current leaders will have to answer. A "never-ending war" is a dubious way to delay the coming of that day.

In an interview with radio Echo Moscow Ahmed Zakaev -- the special envoy of Aslan Maskhadov, whose extradition first from Denmark and later from UK has been denied, to Russia's huge embarrassment -- ventured to put forth a proposition that the situation in Chechnya is getting out of control and there is a risk of it evolving into a similar situation to the one which exists between Israel and Palestine. According to Zakaev, solitary suicidal bombers are people who do not take orders from the president, but are people who are simply unable to tolerate the "torrent of lies which the politicians and the media produce". Zakaev also vehemently denied the Chechen president's involvement in the Grozny blasts. "We categorically reject the use of the suicidal bombers in our struggle," he stressed.

Zakaev's revelations point to the Russian federal government's adoption of "Israeli tactics" which have been employed at length by federal forces throughout the armed conflict. The results of this campaign, however, were not quite as expected, due to rampant corruption in the ranks of the military, poor discipline and a total lack of purpose. What remain in common are the ugly face of state- perpetrated terrorism and senseless vandalism. Houses of Chechen fighters are being blown up; whole blocks of residential buildings dynamited and their inhabitants scattered and driven to refugee camps....

Russians have killed up to 100,000 civilians in Chechnya and left many times that many homeless. I hope that the Israelis will be able to kill that many Palistinians.

Chechnya Death Toll Climbs

AP Photo

By ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW (AP) - As corpses pile up on Chechen battlefields and in morgues, some independent observers are claiming that the Russian military is covering up the war's real toll - not that the Russian media or public are demanding the truth.

Hundreds of deaths in Chechnya are going officially unreported, some critics contend, citing information from wounded troops and soldiers' relatives. Officers and military journalists privately allege that scores of Russian troops have been killed in the past few weeks alone.

``Until the war is over, we will not know what is really happening,'' said Lilia Markelova, a member of Russia's respected Soldiers' Mothers' Committee.

But the public is largely supportive of Russia's military offensive, and disinclined to ask questions. It is a marked contrast to the last Chechnya war, in 1994-96, when grisly Russian television footage of soldiers' corpses stoked public opposition to the fighting.

The Defense and Interior Ministries say more than 600 Russian soldiers have been killed and more than 1,600 wounded since federal forces began battling the militants in August, when Chechnya-based rebels invaded the neighboring republic of Dagestan.

But the toll does not include bodies too badly damaged to be identified, according to a Defense Ministry spokesman who asked not to be named. Nor is anyone tallying the number of troops missing in action, he said.

Yuri Gladkevich, a retired officer who works for the independent Military News Agency, said his military sources regularly report losses up to double those officially released.

A battle in Minutka Square earlier this month in the Chechen capital, Grozny, heightened his suspicions of official data. The Defense Ministry denied that any fighting had occurred. But a Russian officer who said he had taken part in the battle told Gladkevich 42 servicemen were killed or wounded, and doctors at the region's main military hospital told him scores of men wounded in Minutka had been registered that day.

An Associated Press reporter saw more than 100 soldiers' corpses after the fight.

``Low casualty figures support the idea that the military is victorious even when it's not,'' Gladkevich said.

The Soldier's Mothers' Committee, which gained prominence by opposing the previous Chechen war, estimates the overall Russian death toll at double or triple the official figure. It collects information from relatives of the dead or from visits to the troops.

In spite of the alleged hushing-up of casualties, Gladkevich said losses have been lower than during the 1994-96 Chechnya war, when barely trained conscripts marched into Chechnya's cities and suffered heavy losses at the hands of a much smaller separatist force.

Between 30,000 and 100,000 people are believed to have been killed in the last war, most of them civilians. The Russian military says it lost about 3,000 soldiers, but independent observers put troop losses at 6,000. The soldiers' mothers say they are still looking for about 600 soldiers missing from that war.

Russia's strategy has changed since then to protect soldiers. Now the Russians are engaging in fewer ground battles, depending instead on air and artillery bombardment to hit the Chechens from afar.

Public attitudes, too, have changed. Most Russians - terrified by the kidnappings and other violence that have plagued Chechnya and surrounding regions since the last war - see this offensive as justified.

The media's role also is different this time. The military has severely restricted journalists' access to battle zones and closed off morgues. Also, some Russian journalists have been among those kidnapped by Chechen gangs, which soured their colleagues on the Chechen cause.

One of the very few Russian politicians to oppose this war is liberal lawmaker Grigory Yavlinsky.

``We need to do one thing: Every day in the evening newscasts ... it's necessary to announce the names of those killed,'' Yavlinsky told independent NTV television this week. ``Then the price of what is happening there will be clear to us.''

Chechen casualties are even harder to pin down than Russian ones. The rebel command says about 300 fighters have been killed, while the Russians say they've ``liquidated'' about 7,000 militants. Independent observers say a more realistic total is somewhere in between.

The Chechens say 4,000 civilians have been killed, while the Russians say they are avoiding inflicting civilian casualties. In that case, once again, the true number is unclear.


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And if they are, who will speak-up for their victims?

Interview with a Russian Anarchist Chechnya War Veteran

The following is an interview with a Russian Libertarian Communist taken in
the summer of 2002, in Southern Russia. Due to gag-rules of Russian soldiers,
and of course, retaliation of Chechens or Russians, we will just call him
Alex. He is very clever, physically fit, and gives off the impression of
someone who has not gone through the horrors which he has. He is very active
in the anarchist movement in Russia.

Barricada: Let’s start with some background. What were you before you were
drafted into the army?

Alex: A gangster.

B: When did your term start in the army?

A: In June 1996 I had to join the Army. [Russia stills has compulsory
military service --ed.] I began the course of the “young warrior”, that is,
taking an IQ test, physical competitions, things like this. Several hundred
men tested, and the officers decide what part of the army people will go to.

B: Did you want to join the army?

A: I wanted to go.

B: How long was the training for?

A: Two months.

B: Were you concerned about the possibility of going to Chechnya?

A: I knew it was a possibility. I was not surprised when I went there.

B: Looking back, do you think the training was sufficient for what happened
in Chechnya?

A: We did some exercises in mountain warfare. And during training the
officers made us chant “Death, death, death to Chechens!” Out of 375 people,
only 15 of us went into Chechnya. I was taken for Special Forces.

B: Tell us about your first day in Chechnya.

A: From a city in the north Caucasus, we were helicoptered into
Staropromyslovski district of Grozny. I didn’t think of any danger. When we
landed, some men who had already fought in Chechnya and were going home were
waiting for us. We changed weapons, bullets and bombs. At this time I heard a
bomb explode. It was my first feeling of fear.

B: What did you do the first few months in Grozny?

A: From August to October (1996) there was cruel fighting between Russian
forces and Chechen rebels in Grozny. The main fighting I was in was in
Minutka square. This square was well known on Russian TV news. The officers
were so stupid, I mean really unintelligent, they did not know what they were
doing. Often it was the Sergeants who would set up the strategies and we
would just ignore the officers. This one time on Lenin street [In Minutka
Square, Grozny], we had to help get some group of Russian soldiers who were
surrounded by Chechen forces. The officers were stupid and just sent us in
without information on the situation. We never reached the other Russian
soldiers. We were trapped on Lenin street for seven days with little water,
and only about 200 grams of canned meat a day. We had to fight for seven days
strait. A group of SOBR, another elite special force in Russia, had to come
in and help us get out. My first squad was fifteen people and ten died on
this operation. It was terrible, hot, no water, no strategy. We went back to
the Russian base, and we set up a plan, not the officers, and went back in a
rescued the first group of Russian soldiers who were trapped there. We were
successful.

B: Were day to day conditions always difficult for the soldiers?

A: During the first Chechen war, we soldiers had rotten bread, but the
officers had plenty of meats and candies and things. And they did not even
try to hide this from us, they would eat in the open in our view. We learned
to hunt for snakes and frogs. The street fighting lasted for less than three
months for me. I would have about eight operations a month in the city. In
October, General Lebed (Head of the army at the time) decided Russian losses
were to great and ordered an end to all Russian offensives. We were not
supposed to attack rebel forces anymore at a large scale. Only small
operations in villages.. General Lebed was stupid too. I think if we fought
for another two weeks, Russia would have won the war. He died five years ago
accidentally in his retirement, but most of us believe it was on purpose. By
the time we stopped going into Grozny, my hands had begun shaking from killing.

B: What were the small operations after October like?

A: We would mostly go into small villages in the mountains. I personally
killed between thirty-five to forty people in villages. But when we were not
involved in aggressive operations we would do other things. My squad excelled
in hand to hand combat, bombs and mines, medicine... we were very talented
soldiers. There are around nine levels [in skills and fighting ability --ed.]
of soldiers, and we were at the top. We were kept secret. We would look like
peace-keeping soldiers, and go out to de-mining. Nobody knew that these
soldiers removing mines were actually special forces doing reconnaissance.

B: Did villagers ever put up resistance?

A: In general, not, as such operations were very fast, and very effective.
The people attacked did not have time to organize resistance. We were based
near the village K____. It was about 10 kilometers outside of Grozny. We made
an agreement with the villagers. We would not attack them, and they would not
attack us. The village was surrounded by Russian army positions, so if they
attacked us, they would have been annihilated. Though sometimes at night
there would be some sporadic machine gun fire. They were lightly armed and
not very organized.

B: Did you ever have day to day contact with Chechen villagers?

A: Very rarely. It was rare to have contact even with the Russian population
in Chechnya. We would get our orders moments before an operation. So we would
leave the base right after, and return immediately after the operation. So we
had no time to meet people.

B: Did you see the villagers as rebels?

A: Of course some could be rebels, and some might not. But we would go in
only when we had information that there were rebels. Special forces turned
into “punishers”. We would punish the villagers. Officers would tell us there
were rebels in a village, and we were ordered to go into the village find
them and kill them all. We mostly killed the men and not women.

B: Is that because only Chechen men fought?

A: There were women soldiers among the rebels. Chechen women fighters were
known as excellent snipers. Russian soldiers hated them. We called them
“white stockings”. The first time a white stocking was caught in my presence,
I saw how much Russians hated them. Her hands were tied to one car, and legs
to another. The cars drove in opposite directions ripping her body apart a
portion of her body was collected and dropped from a helicopter into her
village. The second white stocking we caught was tied to a tree. Two
kilograms of C4 trotil (an explosive material used in bombs and mines) was
place under her. A slow wick, about 4 or 5 meters long was lit in her view.
These wicks burnt about one second per centimeter. She had no fear at all,
her face showed no signs whatsoever. After she blew up I was haunted by her
face. I began using drugs after that to get over the pain. The third white
stocking we captured was offered to us by our officers. They told us we could
all rape her before she was killed. None of wanted to, none of us did. So we
shot her. A few weeks later we found out she was Ukrainian (where there is a
lot of anti-Russian sentiment). She was the cousin of one of the men in my
group.

B: What was his reaction?

A: He did not change much. Two men did begin going crazy though. One soon
hung himself. The other tried but we found him before he was dead. Like I
said, our group was very talented, and kept a secret. We drove around during
our offensive operations in an armored personnel carrier with our symbol
painted on it. So Chechens new about us, but not who we were. They would send
messages to the base that if the officers did not turn us over to the Rebels,
than the rebels would kill every single Russian soldier in the area. Once in
a bigger village, X_________, the rebels had a very good defense against
normal Russian soldiers, who in turn, always failed on their operations in
this village. So we were sent in. We attacked during their morning prayers.
They did not see us coming. We captured seventeen rebels without a shot fired
at us. It was a very successful operation, only one man died, and he was a
Chechen. The prisoners were interrogated for information, then shot. It was
all filmed.

B: Was it common to film operations?

A: I have records of cruel fighting between Russian and Chechen forces.
Videos you could never see on TV. Real blood, real death, real brains on
cars. Many soldiers have records of the war. Some may be of poor quality, but
they are good for memories. Some records of the first Chechen war were used
on TV as propaganda. To show that it was good to kill Chechens, because of
their brutality, but even these clips did not show the real horror.

B: Was it just Russian soldiers who were cruel?

A: No, of course not. With the Russian soldiers it was often the common
soldiers who were not well educated or trained who acted cruelly, special
forces usually just stuck to the work. I knew some common Russian soldiers
who would cut of Chechen’s ears, and make necklaces which they would wear
into combat. But the Chechens were cruel too. It is my opinion that Chechens
were cruel for reasons more than they wanted independence. Chechens,
historically, are cruel people. There is a long history of cruelty in
Chechnya, cruelty against them, and their cruelty against other and
themselves. When Chechen rebels captured a Russian soldier it was common for
them to get a camera and video tape them shooting off fingers, and sending
video to soldier’s parents. [I have seen such videos, it is very
devastating--ed.]. They would usually ask for ransom for the release of the
prisoner. If the family had no money, they would either video tape more
torture, usually by breaking every bone in his body or castration, and ask
again for money, or kill him. [I saw a video of a soldier being held to the
ground by a rebel standing on his head, another rebel then jammed a knife
into the soldiers throat and slit it. This tape was sent to the mother, who
could not get the ransom --ed.] They sometimes crucified living Russian
soldiers, naked, and put honey or sugar on them to attract flies. And left
them there to die. Once we found a soldier with no legs, but we could not get
to him, because there were Chechen snipers posted to shoot anyone attempting
to save him. In some villages they would decapitate Russian soldiers, and
spike their heads onto sticks, and place these outside the villages. Often,
there would be razor wire wrapped around their head like Christ had. And
usually, there would be a contraption set up so that when someone went to
remove the head, a bomb would blow up. They would lay mine, with mines
underneath them. So when the first mine was removed the second would blow up.
Mine removers never know if a mine is trapped or not, and it is very
difficult to notice a second mine, and to remove two mines at once. Sometimes
they would set up a mine with a trip wire, which ran to a bomb a good
distance away with a 200 meter kill radius.

B: Were you ever wounded?

A: Yes, I was wounded by an RPG. I had shrapnel in 21 places. A comrade and I
were trapped in a building shooting at rebels when the bomb went off. My
comrade was knocked unconscious. He lost some hearing and now has difficulty
speaking. This happened when on the TV’s in Russia the politicians were
saying the war was over. But fighting continued.

B: While in the hospital, did you want to go back, or get out of there?

A: I felt that I wanted to go back. I felt a responsibility to the men in my
group to help them. I was also using lots of drugs at that time to forget
about the pain I felt from killing so many people.

B: So when you finally left Chechnya, what happened?

A: I was the leader of my group, and if there were five soldiers like me,
together we could destroy an entire city. I had opportunities to fight in
Daghestan and Yugoslavia, but I could not live with all the blood on my
hands. In Chechnya I had to use drugs to stay mentally and physically active.
After Chechnya, I couldn’t sleep for two or three years. Always, I would
remember more and more of what happened. I still get nightmares to this day,
but not as terrible as the first two years after I returned to Russia. I got
no medals or honors in Chechnya, but only one special ring. I was paid only
660 roubles (US$100 at the time), instead of 6,600 roubles (US$1,000) which I
was supposed to get. This happened to most soldiers in the first Chechen war.
The Officers would steal the money, and give us next to nothing. I was a
killer without a salary. In the second Chechen war, soldiers received all
their money. But money was not the reason I was in the war. So I wasn’t
disappointed about the money. For a time I fought revenge for all the
Russians who had died before me. The state gave us no medicine or money for
it. After the war I have illnesses in my lungs, legs, and perhaps my brain. I
need medical help, but don’t have the money for qualified help. I was not the
only one used as a soldier in a political game. So many people didn’t realize
why they were really fighting. Now so many soldiers are invalids, beggars,
junkies, alcoholics, junkies, homeless, criminals, and insane. After the
first Chechen war, the government had no rehabilitation, mentally nor
physically.

B: What did you do with yourself?

A: I finally stopped drugs, but then the nightmares came back, so I started
drinking a lot. Eventually I knocked off the booze, and now I drink very
rarely. After three years of being apolitical, I joined the Russian National
Unity (Ultra-right wing militia), I even took part in some of their actions.
But they did not have the answers for me, and I soon realized this was not
what was needed for Russia. It was just another form of oppression. By chance
I happened to pick up a copy of X_____, an anarchist magazine. My aims and
beliefs are centered around equality and peace between different peoples. I
wanted to get rid of all borders, so that I can travel around and meet
different people, and see what their living conditions are like. So the
anarchists interested me. I wrote them a letter, and we met a few times to
discuss their ideas and actions. I realized this is what I had believed. I
now have comrades of different nationalities, which has opened up a lot to
me. We believe in people, the Russian government wasn’t interested in their
soldiers. That war was worse than the war in Afghanistan. In two years in
Chechnya, 20,000 Russian soldiers died. In ten years in Afghanistan only
16,000 died.

Interview by Leon
–Barricada Collective

amazing bedtime reading - I think I'll fix myself a drink

"Federal troops poured back into Chechnya in October 1999 to put down resistance forces that had enjoyed de facto independence since an earlier 1994-96 war. "

No, these "freedom fighters" were given their own autonomous semi-independent country, but then they decided they need more freedom, and invaded the neighboring republic of Dagestan. Once again negotiating with Islamic terrorists is like dealing with criminals, give them an inch and they will take a mile. I feel sorry for the innocent Chechen civilians; however I have no remorse for these rebels, and especially their Islamic mercenaries. I hope the Russians are successful in hunting down each and every last one of them.