Sadulayev Transcript

Chechenpress has now published a transcript of ChRI President Sadulayev's interview with Radio Liberty (my tr. from Russian):

On 3 June this year ChRI President Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev gave an interview to the Chechen editorial staff of "Radio Liberty". It is published in a translation from the Chechen language.

Baudi Martanov: Almost three months have passed since Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov perished in Doykur-Evle [Tolstoy-Yurt]. The calculations of the Russian leadership that with Maskhadov’s death the war in Chechnya would start to die down were not justified: the war continues, the strikes of Chechen soldiers against the Russian troops do not weaken. The Chechen resistance was headed by Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev. In his first interview he replied to questions from Radio Liberty. The material was prepared by Aslan Ayubov.

Aslan Ayubov: Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev never thought that he would become a leader of Chechen soldiers. But what happened during March of this year changed his entire life. On 8 March Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov perished in combat with the Russians. Some time after this the military committee SDC-Madzhlisul Shura of the ChRI, created by the decree of Aslan Maskhadov, was assembled in Urus-Martan for the election of a new leader. One of the participants of this conference told us that initially Shamil Basayev was proposed for the post of leader of the resistance. But he refused, referring to the fact that Aslan Maskhadov had appointed Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev as his successor. So the 38-year-old scholar became head of the Chechen resistance. A.- Kh. Sadulayev describes how he was appointed Vice President.

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev: In 2001 Aslan Maskhadov wrote a decree about my appointment to this post, but for a long time he did not publish it, because I several times rejected the appointment. I was ready to carry out any commission from the President, but did not want to take upon myself this inordinate responsibility. However, in 2002 Aslan Maskhadov issued a decree appointing me as Vice President for the consideration of the State Defense Committee, and after the GKO-MSh affirmed my candidature, he made arrangements for me to begin the discharge of my new responsibilities. I never even dreamed that I would ever replace Aslan Maskhadov in the post of President, because I have never aspired and do not aspire to leadership. But today, in time of war, we must all fulfill our duty and the responsibilities that have been placed on us. When we cleanse our land of occupiers, our nation will choose for itself in conditions of freedom the leader whom it considers most deserving.

Aslan Ayubov: The loss of Aslan Maskhadov is a heavy blow for the Chechen soldiers, says Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev. But the war does not depend on one person, and the death of Aslan Maskhadov will not stop it.

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev: Today Maskhadov's death is a great loss for us, it is a heavy blow for us, and everyone knows that. But this war and the liberation of the people do not depend on one name. However glorious a hero the man was, he is only one small part of the people, not the whole people. Therefore the jihad will not stop because of the death of leaders. Those who will remain alive will continue the struggle.

Aslan Ayubov: We asked A.- Kh.. Sadulayev what changes he intends to make to the course followed by Aslan Maskhadov.

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev: There will be no changes to our cause, we consider that our path is correct. Aslan knew and highly valued the cause, which he headed, and he was ready to live and to die for it. And for that cause he gave up his life, without blinking an eye. There will be no readjustments or changes in our course, and I see no need for them.

Aslan Ayubov: A.-Kh. Sadulayev sees only one prospect for the Chechen people – the attainment of national independence. Only in an independent state of their own will Chechens be able to defend their honor and their rights.

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev: We have one path – the attainment of independent statehood, and for our state to be free. Because only in a free state can people ensure their rights and freedoms. In a tyrannical state the people have no rights, and the entire history and present of Russia proves that. I frequently focus attention on this, as in the crime reports on Russian television Russian militiamen are seen beating the legs of those who have been arrested. In Russia they do not even have enough sense to conceal these beatings, which show the entire world that no human rights are observed there. Indeed: why do they beat those who are arrested and show this to the entire world? Here there is either stupidity or contempt for the people. In truly democratic states if they put handcuffs on an innocent person he will take the police to court for violating his rights, and those policemen will be punished. But for Russia the deprivation of rights is the norm. Therefore Russia has neither the moral nor the juridical foundations for asserting that it attacked the Chechen state in order "to introduce order" and "to ensure the rights" of our people. How can Russians give to others what do not have themselves, and never have had?

Aslan Ayubov: A.- Kh. Sadulayev says that his foreign and internal policy will be directed toward achieving agreement in Chechen society, because, as he says, the Chechen people are few in number, and therefore they must be monolithic.

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev: Today I will not turn my back on anyone who supports our cause in some way. We must direct our efforts into a united course. The point is not my tolerance for people, but the fact that we are a small nation, and it more than any other nation needs cohesion and unity on its historic path.

Aslan Ayubov: Soon it will be 10 years since Shamil Basayev took more than 1, 500 people hostage in Budyonnovsk. And in the second war Basayev seized unarmed people. There can be no doubt that terrorism harms the image of the Chechen resistance in the entire world. Aslan Maskhadov understood this well, and in his interviews for our radio he repeatedly condemned terrorism. We asked A.- Kh. Sadulayev what his attitude to such actions is.

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev: Today we not only have the right, we also have the duty, based on military necessity, to inflict maximum political and ideological losses on the enemy. But the targets of our attacks must be the enemy’s military and economic objectives. Not long before his death, we discussed this with Aslan Maskhadov. Aslan categorically insisted that the mujahadeen must select for their strikes the military targets, economic objectives and state institutions of our enemies. That is our right, those are legitimate objectives in any war. However, it is inadmissible to make peaceful, unarmed people who do not participate in military actions, and especially women and children, the object of attacks. Our position is straightforward and immutable: we categorically condemn terrorism! That is not our method, not our way.

However, one ought not to forget that such actions are provoked by the limitless cruelty of the Russian occupiers with respect to the inhabitants of Chechnya. Torture, the seizure of hostages, the mass murders of people who are not guilty of anything – that is what the Russian occupiers of our land have created every day for a period of many years. Of our children alone they have killed some 50,000! There is not a single Chechen family to which the Russians would not bring grief, pain and bitterness.

Aslan Ayubov: Alu Alkhanov often states that the situation in Chechnya is becoming normalized. We asked A.- Kh. Sadulayev whether it does not seem to him that the Chechen people are accepting this authority?

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev: The things these Russian puppets are doing in the Chechen land, against the Chechen people, do not make it possible for people to accept and support them. They have brought people to such a state that they rejoice in every blow we inflict on those puppets and traitors. For example, recently there was the "mopping up" in Samashki. What happened there? The Munafiki ruined and destroyed people’s property, as if competing among themselves in cruelty, and each group of traitors was supervised by Russians, who were testing their zeal. And this was seen not just by one person – it was seen by all the inhabitants of Samashki. There is nothing that is Chechen, nothing that is Moslem left in these Ramzans, Sulims and so forth. How can people support them, their executioners and tormentors?

Aslan Ayubov: We asked A.- Kh. Sadulayev about the prospects for peace in Chechnya. He replied that the Kremlin is destabilizing the situation not only in Chechnya, but also in the entire North Caucasus.

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev: Putin and his generals see their potential enemies in all Caucasians. Fearing that somewhere new forces of the mujahadeen will appear, they, so they imagine, are beginning to inflict "pre-emptive" strikes against people who are entirely peacefully disposed, but in doing so they embitter them and create new centers of military conflict all over North Caucasus. Apart from punitive instincts, Putin has no policy in the Caucasus. The proof of this is that there are almost more explosions and mujahadeen attacks in Makhachkala than there are in Dzhokhar [Grozny]. In Ingushetia, too, there are almost more attacks on Russian troops than there are in Chechnya. Kabardino-Balkaria, where the occupiers, after killing one mujahadeen, trumpet that they killed ten, does not lag behind in this regard. Military actions are occurring in Karachayevo-Cherkesia with increasing frequency. Adygeya is not yet drawn into the conflict, but the Russians trying their utmost to bring that about. Next in line will be Kalmykia, where Putin, using the new law on the appointment of governors and heads of republics, intends to aggravate the situation and, using this as a pretext, to oust Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and replace him with his protegé.

Aslan Ayubov: All wars come to an end some time. But A.- Kh. Sadulayev considers that Putin himself has, by his statements and actions, deprived himself of ways toward peace. But, however that may be, A.- Kh. Sadulayev is convinced that the war will not be end in the subjugation of the Chechens.

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev: Putin began this war, but has left himself no ways to end it. Because the Chechens will never end their resistance, they will never submit, and Putin has no other way toward peace. If he were a cleverer politician, he would not bind himself with categorical statements and would leave open the possibility to step back without losing face. The high prices of oil still make it possible for him to send his mercenaries into Chechnya, though with each year that passes there is increasingly less cannon fodder in Russia. It will wage war until we break its back. But we have not weakened, have not grown tired, have not lost our strength, for as long as the enemy is in our land our resources of resistance do not grow exhausted, but merely grow.