#8
From: collin.s.maslov@us.andersen.com
(Collin Maslov)
Subject: Re: "Chechens deny their republic is bin
Laden pawn"/JRL 5588
Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2001
The chain of events decribed in Chicago Tribune's article Of December 9, 2001 titled "Chechens deny their republic is bin Laden pawn" By Reese Erlich is wrong.
The author of the article states that apartment bombings came first, and the invasions later. However, the correct time line was different.
Chechens invaded dagestan in August 1999. They were pushed back to chechnya by Russian Army, but shortly after they invaded again, this time from two directions. Once again, the Russian army pushed the invaders back stopping at the border, without venturing into chechnya proper.
After that, russian army went on to deal with wahhabi enclave in Dagestan, which was connected to Chechens. Only after that, the apartment bombings started to happen.
It is very important to keep this timeline in perspective, since if FSB really wanted to start a new war with chechnya, they could've done so after the first invasion. But they didn't. In fact, Russia was very reluctant to get into another conflict with chechens, and only when apartment buildings were blown up, did the russian army go into chechnya.
Collin Maslov
San Francisco, CA
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