Aushev Interview

Novaya Gazeta has published an interview with former Ingush President Ruslan Aushev.

My quick tr.:

Novaya Gazeta No. 11 14 February 2005

Ruslan Aushev:
The War Is Leaving Us Behind
If we don’t reach a settlement with Maskhadov now, he will be replaced by people who only know how to wage war


Ruslan Sultanovich! Is a moratorium on military operations declared by Maskhadov currently in force in Chechnya?

It is very difficult to give an unambiguous answer to that question. After all, what you are asking is: does Maskhadov control the forces of resistance in Chechnya, or doesn’t he? I think that’s a secondary question. First one must assess Maskhadov’s call for negotiations. And assess it from the perspective of the world’s experience. If the Basques in Spain suddenly called for negotiations, or if the Iraqis said to the American government: we are declaring a moratorium and will stop attacking your troops – do you think the Spaniards or the Americans would be indignant, as our military and politicians are? I mean, look how the world is applauding what is taking place on the negotiating table in the Middle East!

And yet the question of Maskhadov’s real influence is very important…

I will put it this way. A few years ago Maskhadov was influential within the confines of Chechnya. Now his influence extends to the whole of the North Caucasus, as throughout the entire Caucasus an organized resistance to the policy of the Federal Center is spreading. And for those people who are coming out against that policy, it’s Maskhadov who is the symbol. He was, he is, and he will be.

What if one imagines the improbable: for the sake of peaceful aims Maskhadov meets the Kremlin’s principal demand. Surrenders. What would happen then?

In the first place, he will never surrender. One shouldn’t humiliate Maskhadov with the assertion that he doesn’t control anything. Yes, there are many groupings there which act autonomously for up to six months or so. But the general tendency is that all those field commanders recognize Maskhadov, Here’s a comparison for you. Even with the extremely low five percent rating Boris Yeltsin had in the middle of his presidency, no one ever called his power and authority into doubt. If we want peace in the Caucasus, in the Caucasus, that is, and not only in Chechnya, then negotiations must be opened with the armed resistance. There is no solution that involves force, there is an idea which can only be fought with an idea, not with an army, tanks and planes. Maskhadov, I repeat, is a symbol of that idea.

For whom are negotiations disadvantageous?

For those who talk of negotiations as of something shameful, unacceptable and unproductive. Those who try to frighten people with recent history – the Khasavyurt agreements. To me, as a direct participant in those events, it’s obvious that Khasavyurt is being mythologized and dealt with in the wrong way. Those were FORCED actions. We (yes, we!) were driven into a corner. In the first place, the guerrillas entered Grozny and blocked off the Federal forces, Pulikovsky even wanted to bomb both his own men and others. Then, at the request of Alexander Lebed, I flew to see Maskhadov and Yandarbiyev and tried to get them to withdraw the guerrillas, and I only just succeeded. In the second place, Yeltsin and Co. had elections coming up. .. The time when our military men said that negotiations were treason, that would not allow them to settle the Chechen question by means of force, has passed. Since 1999 no one has restrained our military men, and the political message has been unambiguously one of force. And what do we see? Have they got anywhere close to a settlement of the Caucasus problem? Negotiations are also disadvantageous to the Chechen leadership. In general, we are wasting time, when each day, each month are important. We don’t have any time left. The war is leaving us behind, and the question is who will bring the detonator to the Caucasus.

Are influential personalities similar to Maskhadov and Basayev appearing among the armed resistance?

Nature abhors a vacuum. Who had ever heard of Movsar Barayev? Or Ruslan Khuchbarov?

They are not just executors…

Well yes, the executors… I talked in Beslan with that ‘executor’ Khuchbarov. I saw his eyes, heard what he was saying. He’s a representative of the idea, he knew perfectly well what he was going to do and why he was going to do it. He’s not just a robot, an automaton… Even if Maskhadov and Basayev give themselves up, their place will be taken by the Khuchbarovs and Barayevs. The generation that grew up during the war fanatically believes in an idea and only knows how to wage war It will be a million times harder to conduct negotiations with them. It’s not for nothing that Kazantsev ordered the male population of Chechnya aged 10-60 to be arrested and detained… And also: it’s wrong to picture the Khuchbarovs and Barayevs as savages. There are many of them, they fight and struggle all their lives, they are politicians, they have behind them a young, aggressive ideology, they are informed, technologically armed, and they are growing.

Ruslan Sultanovich! How do you react to the awarding to Zyazikov of the Order “For Services to the Fatherland” – after Beslan?

With calm. The President of Russia knows better than I do the services for which he hands out awards…

But the President of Ingushetia has one obvious “service” before all Russia – cowardice…

I have promised myself not to speak on the subject of the new Ingush leadership. I want to add that for the whole Afghan War about seventy of us got the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union. In Russia already two hundred people have become Heroes. For what?

Yelena Milashina

14.02.2005