#22 - JRL 8369 - JRL Home
Moscow Times
September 15, 2004
Basayev Puts Russia in a No-Win Situation
By Yulia Latynina

Russia is the first country in history to fight terrorism by scrapping democratic elections. I'm referring to President Vladimir Putin's proposal to cancel direct elections of regional leaders and the election of State Duma deputies from single-mandate districts.

Russia is waging a war in Chechnya, of course. And I am glad the Kremlin has finally noticed. But I'd like to know when the Kremlin thinks the war started.

The war began a long time ago, but the Kremlin described it as a "peace process." After rebels staged a raid in Ingushetia, Putin was informed about the successful conclusion of military exercises in the Far East. After a bomb went off on Kashirskoye Shosse, we were told it was an act of hooliganism. After two passenger jets were blown out of the sky, we were told they had somehow fallen on their own.

After Beslan, Putin figured out that Russia was battling Islamist terrorists.

The perceptiveness of our leaders is matched only by their competence. Beslan was not just the largest body count in the history of terrorist attacks in Russia. It was also the only major hostage-taking where the authorities chose not to negotiate. Every law enforcement professional knows that you talk to the terrorists in order to calm them down and to secure the release of some or all of the hostages, making it easier to storm the building when the time comes.

Official lies served as a catalyst. When the state media reported that 350 hostages had been seized, not 1,200, the terrorists threatened to leave just 350 alive. When it was reported that they had issued no demands, although those demands were already on Putin's desk, the terrorists knew they were doomed.

The head of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service were both in North Ossetia, and both did nothing. It is inconceivable that either man would hold on to his job after such a display of incompetence in any Western country. In Russia, there were calls to increase their powers.

Rather than tell us what is to be done, the authorities have told us who is to blame. First on the list are foreign countries. "The Central Bank should withdraw its reserves from American banks," demanded politically astute participants in the meeting on Red Square last week.

Second on the list is Aslan Maskhadov, whose relatives -- including young children -- were immediately hauled off to a prison camp in Khankala. I don't think Maskhadov had anything to do with the Beslan attack. Not because he's a good guy, a legitimate leader or a suitable partner for negotiations. But because this terrorist attack was part of Shamil Basayev's election campaign to become the first Muslim president of the North Caucasus.

The Kremlin hates Maskhadov for a good reason. In the West he is seen as a more legitimate president of Chechnya than either the late Akhmad Kadyrov or the recently elected Alu Alkhanov. The cynicism with which the Kremlin has turned a national tragedy to serve the needs of their puppets in Chechnya is staggering.

A captured terrorist revealed that Basayev had ordered the group to stir things up in the North Caucasus. But I fear that Basayev has bigger plans. The terrorists wanted to destabilize not just the Caucasus but all of Russia. They forced the regime into a no-win situation: Admit your mistakes or descend into dictatorship.

The terrorists know that only the regime is capable of terror on a grand scale. Basayev's plan for taking revenge against Russia seems to have worked.

Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.