Ichkeria's funeral (weekly review) By Vadim Borshchev, special to Prague Watchdog
Ramzan Kadyrov has managed to restore to life the tradition of public repentance, a genre which after the collapse of the totalitarian Soviet system seemed to have receded into the past forever. The second programme in the “Points of Leverage” series, in which Ramzan Kadyrov appears in the role of presenter, was aired on Grozny television last Friday. As in the previous programme broadcast two months ago, the main participants were former members of Aslan Maskhadov’s government, deputies of the Ichkerian parliament and religious figures of Maskhadov era. This time the challenge of their task was more wide-ranging. Those who took part in the four-hour tele-marathon did not only have to denounce their own pasts and portray the mediocrity of the Ichkerian leaders in colourful terms – Kadyrov decided to draw a line under the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria itself.
Although the replies of former Ichkerian interior minister Kazbek Makhashev, whom Kadyrov cross-questioned in the manner of a real investigator, were somewhat reluctant, they did fit the presenter’s line of argument. Makhashev confirmed that Maskhadov more or less gave power to criminal and Islamist groups, and by 1998 it was already unclear what sort of state the Chechen authorities were building. While the Constitution may have been secular and democratic enough on paper,in reality the Wahhabisforced Ichkeria’s Presidentto steer towards the formation of an Islamic theocracy.
Among Friday’s speakers were an ex-mufti, an ex-MP and other “exes”. They spoke of Maskhadov’s weakness and inconsistency, his unwillingness to fight the bandits.
It was, however,the presenter who did most of the talking. According to Kadyrov, not only did Maskhadov fail to restore order – he was also responsible for the loss of the government funds which had been transferred from Russia. Kadyrov was referring to the pensions and salaries of the employees of the law enforcement agencies which never reached their intended recipients. On one occasion when Maskhadov was asked what had happened to the money he replied that it had been spent on the purchase of weapons needed to defend the republic. Kadyrov said that this was a lie. Alluding to the words of his father, he said that Russia was ready to supply unlimited quantities of weaponry free of charge to anyone who expressed a desire to wage war against the Wahhabis. The money had quite simply been stolen.
In addition, Maskhadov had made no attempt to prevent the invasion of Dagestan by Khattab and Basayev, and had not even condemned them. This assertion by Kadyrov is, incidentally, at odds with the statement of Maskhadov, who said he informed the Russian leadership of the imminent attack through Ichkeria’s Minister of Security, Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev.
During the television show the head of Chechnya abolished Ichkeria altogether. When the former MP began to explain that he was obviously entitled to speak in the name of the Ichkerian government in order to declare it illegitimate, Kadyrov interrupted him brusquely: you forget, Ichkeria doesn’t exist any more, he snapped.
He also gave his promise that nothing of the kind would ever take place in the history of the Chechen people again, since law and order have now been established in the republic.
Meanwhile, Kadyrov will not find it so easy to consign the memory of Maskhadov to absolute oblivion. It is not even that the complaints about thelate President are unfair. Many of the criticisms aired in the broadcast have been heard before. Maskhadov's weakness as a leader is a topic that has been discussed for many years. However, in the eyes of very many, Maskhadov was a president chosen by the people in elections whose legitimacy were recognized by the world community. And only the people had the right to remove him from power.
To this day, a large question mark hangs over the legitimacy of the current Chechen government. Neither fraudulent elections nor a likewise fraudulent referendum have really been able to help to solve the problem. Maskhadov still remains the man who for all his shortcomings as the legitimate leader of the Chechen Republic. And nothing can alter that status – neither death nor the confessions of former associates. It is against those associates, however, that the charge of fecklessness and total disregard for the interests of the people and the state, the charge they now bring against the man whom they willingly served, could with justice be made.
And besides, although Maskhadov can be accused of all the mortal sins, it is doubtful if anyone would ever think of claiming that he was responsible for the blood of all the people who were killed, tortured and abducted. While the current Chechen leader drags a whole train of such accusations behind him.
Picture: foto.mail.ru. (Translation by DM ) (P,DM)
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