On the Question of Chechen Terrorism

Russian-American relations regarding the question of the Chechen Republic have a complicated history. Unfortunately, for a long time there had been no mutual understanding about what was happening in Chechnya nor was there U.S. support for Russian activity against Chechen terrorists. Even under these circumstances, President Vladimir Putin expressed readiness to actively work with the Bush Administration in the fight against al-Qaida, the Taliban and other Islamic terrorist groups immediately after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Over the course of many years, U.S. mass media and political circles described acts of Chechen terrorism as payback for the past 10 years of unjust actions by Soviet and Russian powers. Tellingly, American homegrown terrorists also proclaim that their acts of terror are retribution for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and even more broadly, for the U.S.’ alleged unfolding war on Islam. However, no American would agree that such claims justify the killing of innocent citizens. The basis of cooperation in our common fight against terrorism should be the understanding that there is no excuse for acts of terror against innocent civilians.

Russia’s actions in Chechnya were largely criticized among Western partners and United States politicians, as well as by the general public and the mass media, which argued that entering that fight was a human rights violation and that excessive force was used. Every possible attempt was made to separate the U.S. fight against Islamic terrorism from the Russian fight against Chechen terrorism that was going on inside Russia itself.

Moreover, Russian attempts to get support for the extradition of several Chechen terrorist leaders like Ahmed Zakaev, prime minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria who turned out to be in England, or Ilyas Akhmadov, minister of international affairs of Ichkeria who incidentally was granted asylum in Boston, did not garner any awareness from the U.S. or Britain. Unfortunately, as if that were not enough, in many countries explicit terrorists and cutthroats that undermined Russian power have often been called champions of freedom.

President Putin spoke about this issue in particular on his annual April 25 “direct line,” the several hours during which the head of government answers the Russian citizens’ questions live:

“It has always perturbed me,” underscored the president of Russia, “when our Western partners and your colleagues from Western mass media have called our terrorists who have committed brutal, bloody, abominable crimes within the territory of our country ‘insurgents.’ They almost never label them terrorists. They gave them financial and political help, informational support, sometimes overtly, sometimes indirectly, but it has always accompanied their activities inside the territory of the Russian Federation. We have always said that we don’t need to make declarations about how terrorism is a common threat, but what needs to be done is to cooperate more closely with one another. But now those two criminals have confirmed our thesis in the best way.”

The terrorist acts of the Tsarnaev brothers in Boston, as well as the events of Sept. 2001, aroused in Russian citizens and Russian leadership a feeling of solidarity toward the citizens of the U.S. and especially the people living in Boston. Just as he did in 2001, President Putin has expressed his readiness to cooperate with U.S. authorities to clarify the circumstances connected to those tragic events, and as far as I know, intelligence agencies of both countries are actively cooperating on this issue at present.

It is important to note that the Russian side and Russian special services had kept a close watch on the contacts of the Tsarnaevs and informed the American intelligence agencies that they were monitoring them. Alas, the lack of trust between our two countries and a persistent skeptical attitude toward the fact that Russia is really struggling against Chechen terrorism had apparently led to the lack of attention by U.S. intelligence agencies. Today, no one needs convincing that Chechen terrorism has crossed the borders into Russia. Now this issue is torturing the people of Boston. In the Russian media and in special forces circles, there is intelligence that the Islamic radicals from the Chechen Republic and other regions of the Northern Caucasus are participating in armed hostilities in various regions of the globe amongst jihadists. There is intelligence that they are participating in the civil war in Syria on behalf of the rebels against the legitimate power.

We hope that after these tragic events in Boston, intelligence agencies as well as Russian and U.S. authorities might overcome, at least to some degree, their distrust of one another’s assessments of terrorist threats, as well as cease the categorization of terrorists into “us” and “them,” “good” and “bad,” and that the intelligence agencies will follow a more coordinated action in the fight against this cancer that now entangles a significant part of the globe.

It must be recognized that Russia and the U.S. have common interests as well as disagreements. For example, after the conditions of detention in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib became known to the public, few people in Russia were willing to believe that the U.S. secret services was staffed entirely by knights with no fear or blame. However, our shortcomings should not obscure the fact that we have a common enemy. Fighting it together is not merely common sense; it is a moral imperative.