Chechen peacekeeping reserve
Grozny proposed exchanging politicians for terrorists
Chechen Foreign Minister Ilyas Akhmadov said that the republic's law enforcement agencies are ready to consider the issue of extraditing terrorists who blew up houses in Russia. Thus, the Chechen authorities actually recognized the connection between the war in the North Caucasus and the latest terrorist attacks. True, in exchange for the saboteurs, the Chechens demanded the extradition of more than two hundred Russian politicians and military leaders who “unleashed the genocide of the Chechen people in 1994-1996.” Including Pavel Grachev, Anatoly Kulikov, Sergei Stepashin and Boris Yeltsin.
This is not the first time that Ilyas Akhmadov has made such extraordinary statements. Suffice it to recall how in July of this year, after the military seized the Chechen customs post, he threatened preventive strikes against Russia. Then Aslan Maskhadov himself disavowed Akhmadov’s words: they say the minister was misunderstood.
On Sunday, Akhmadov sent letters to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, in which he said that “official Grozny is ready to consider the issue of extraditing terrorists who blew up houses in Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk, if the Russian side has convincing evidence of the involvement of residents of the Chechen Republic in these terrorist acts and compliance with a number of conditions."
The main condition is the preliminary extradition to the justice authorities of Chechnya of “war criminals who unleashed the genocide of the Chechen people in 1994-1996.” Not long ago, the Prosecutor General's Office of Chechnya transferred to the Supreme Sharia Court a criminal case on charges of mass murder of two hundred Russian politicians and military leaders. Among the accused are ex-Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, former Ministers of Defense and Ministry of Internal Affairs Pavel Grachev and Anatoly Kulikov, generals Deinekin, Babichev, Shamanov, Tikhomirov, Kulikovsky, politician Sergei Shakhrai and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin.
They were charged in absentia. “They all face the death penalty,” Lema Tagirov, the plenipotentiary representative of the Prosecutor General of Chechnya in Russia, promised a Kommersant correspondent. “But this does not mean that after the verdict they will be hunted. Punishment will overtake them when circumstances change, and strictly according to the law.”
Circumstances seem to have changed. As one of the senior officials of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told a Kommersant correspondent, “we have information that Akhmadov is connected with such leaders of Chechen militants as Shamil Basayev.” “The letter from the so-called Minister of Foreign Affairs was sent precisely to intimidate us and stop the bombing of terrorist bases,” noted a representative of the GUBOP. “It is not without reason that one of the conditions for assistance to Russian law enforcement agencies is the surrender to the authorities of Chechnya of the pilots who bombed bandit camps in August-September 1999. This looks more like a provocation than an offer of real help."
Last weekend, federal aviation carried out about 150 flights into Chechnya. The targets for bombing were the Chechen villages of the Shelkovsky district, the villages of the Gudermessky, Nozhai-Yurtovsky, Vedeno districts, bordering Dagestan, where, according to intelligence, militants were again concentrating.
Although Akhmadov's conditions make negotiations on the extradition of saboteurs pointless, his statement at least means that the Chechen authorities have actually recognized the connection between the war in the North Caucasus and the latest terrorist attacks on Russian territory. Let us recall that before this, both official Grozny, represented by Aslan Maskhadov, and the leader of the gangs, Shamil Basayev, categorically denied any involvement in the explosions. In any case, the Chechen minister is bluffing: even if the law enforcement agencies of the republic have information about the terrorists, they are not able to arrest them. After all, as you know, Aslan Maskhadov’s power does not extend beyond the presidential palace.

LEONID B-BERRES

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 171 dated September 21, 1999, p. 1