Word: chechnya
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...republic of Ingushetia, Chechen guerrillas are stepping up operations against Russian troops. Chechen fighters have reached north into the Russian heartland as far as Moscow. Suicide bombings at a Moscow rock concert and an attempted bombing on the capital's main thoroughfare in July have unnerved the public. In Chechnya the guerrilla movement is split between traditional separatist fighters loyal to Aslan Maskhadov, the last elected president of Chechnya, and newer, deeply fundamentalist militants backed by Arab money and a sprinkling of volunteers from the Islamic world. Among them are radicals affiliated with al-Qaeda, some of whom slipped across...
When the Kremlin put Kadyrov in charge of Chechnya in June 2000, many assumed he would be a transitional figure. But he has consolidated his position with the Kremlin, in part by arguing forcefully that only Chechens can wipe out the anti-Russian insurgency. To help him with this, the Russians have built up the Chechen police into a well-armed force that needs to be expanded, Kadyrov told TIME in a brief interview in Grozny. "The main task is to get the [police] up and running," he said...
Many doubt the Russians will ever leave. "Russian generals have zero enthusiasm" for Chechenization, says Deputy Prime Minister Doshukayev, because there's too much money to be made in Chechnya. The arms and explosives that kill Russian troops come straight from the Russian bases, according to local people and foreign observers. Russians deal the weapons on the black market even though they will be used to kill fellow soldiers. Guerrillas don't have to smuggle arms into Chechnya, says pro-Kadyrov newspaper editor Lechi Magomayev, because "they can buy them at the nearest base." Chechen officials say the military...
Various peace plans have been suggested for turning things around in Chechnya. One of the most detailed, put forward by Khasbulatov, speaks of giving Chechnya autonomy "under international supervision" within the Russian Federation. But Putin is opposed to anything that weakens Moscow's writ. And many Chechens believe with equal force that their only hope is independence...
...Soviet camps and in exile, the Chechens were from the "one nation which would not give in, would not acquire the mental habits of submission." The Chechens have lived up to that description. Unlike President Bush with Iraq, Putin can make sure Russians are not reminded of the Chechnya quagmire on a daily basis on TV. But silence is no solution. "I am here because it's the only job I know how to do," says Mikhail, a noncommissioned officer with the militarized forces of Russia's Interior Ministry, as he feeds a cat in the tightly guarded garrison that...