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Washington Profile
www.washprofile.org
A Day in the Life of a Chechen
Anna Politkovskaya, Russia’s leading investigative journalist, recently spoke with Washington Profile about her experiences covering the harsh realities of life in war-torn Chechnya.
Washington Profile: Today, it’s next to impossible for journalists to travel to Chechnya and get information in the region. How do you deal with this situation?
Anna Politkovskaya: The key to it is the experience I’ve gained over the years and the many, many contacts [I have made there]…They invariably help me cross the Ingushetian-Chechen border, travel safely within the country and track down information…The most important thing for journalists are their contacts. They save your skin and give you shelter. One of the biggest challenges facing journalists in Chechnya is finding shelter and a place to sleep…
WP: Russians show very little interest in Chechnya now. Do you sometimes feel you are wasting your time covering the conflict?
Politkovskaya: No, I don’t. I am a Russian journalist. A war is taking place in our country. Just because Russians aren’t responding on a large scale doesn’t at all mean there’s no need to inform them about it. Often, outwardly, people don’t seem to be interested in Chechnya. But as soon as I stop writing about the issue (because I write about many others, as well), I begin receiving letters and phone calls. This means people are looking for information to fill the void. I don’t at all get the impression that I am wasting my time. But you can’t expect instantaneous results…
WP: There are several [online] information sources on Chechnya, sponsored by the Chechen rebels as well as the Russian side. Quite often, these sources contradict one another. In your view, what’s the best way for journalists to cover the story?
Politkovskaya: … I also visit these Internet sites and also often find contradictions in the coverage there. There’s really only one way to get reliable information: by traveling to Chechnya, asking people their opinions, reporting real-life stories firsthand. It’s difficult to make phone calls to the region, and the traditional ways of gathering information that the West is accustomed to simply don’t work there.
WP: It is often said that someone is benefiting from the war in Chechnya. Can you name names of those who are benefiting from the continuation of this conflict?
Politkovskaya: The people fighting the war are interested in seeing it continue…some Chechen rebels want the war to go on because its conclusion would spell their demise. That’s the honest truth. People in the Kadyrov camp are keen on the conflict because they are criminal scum. As soon as fighting ends and some sort of “era of justice” begins, they are finished. A part of the [Russian] forces, primarily mercenaries, who come to Chechnya to make money, are eager for the fighting to continue…After many conversations with them, I conclude that only a small number, maybe three to five percent, is convinced of the necessity to “beat on dark-skins.” Excuse me for using this fascist expression. Everyone else says: ‘I have bills and rent to pay,’ ‘I’m short on money,’ ‘I’m working for my education’…
WP: Officially, money has been earmarked from the Russian budget to finance the construction of a water park in Chechnya. What’s happening unofficially?
Politkovskaya: I am certain that the park will not be built. It’s just one more “black hole” enterprise, by which the money will end up in Kadyrov’s bank accounts. Today, he is one of Chechnya’s wealthiest people. He really does travel in a Hummer, this man that earns three thousand rubles a month. And he has several of them. Before, only Basayev rode in a Hummer…
He gets away with all this because he convinced Putin to let him conduct so-called anti-terrorist measures throughout the northern Caucasus, including Chechnya, which often means extrajudicial executions, as well as outright theft. He’s also been given the exclusive right to oversee all financial inflows into Chechnya: school funding, refugee support, reconstruction money, etc. He got Putin to believe that corruption is so rampant that he, as Chechen first deputy prime minister, should have complete control over the allocation of funds. Since then, he’s become the country’s most corrupt official.
It’s no secret what’s happening; it’s ridiculous. On certain days, bureaucrats are scheduled to arrive at Kadyrov’s house in Tsentoroye. They come carrying different colored folders. Red ones contain graft money, or more specifically, the amounts they are obliged to give Kadyrov on behalf of their ministry. These folders are deposited in a certain place in the house. The whole process is a well-known fact, including, I believe, to the intelligence services.
WP: What is everyday life like in Chechnya? How do average Chechens survive?
Politkovskaya: They survive by working odd jobs and peddling whatever they can find. For example, some gather bricks left in the rubble and sell them to others who are trying to rebuild their houses. Women who were once teachers and doctors now work at the bazaars.
WP: What’s the condition of the country’s schools and medical infrastructure?
Politkovskaya: They’ve operated all through the conflict. Chechen teachers and doctors are true heroes. They carried out what they believed to be their duty even in the middle of open warfare. And even during 1999, one of the worst years of the war, teachers gathered children together in their homes in an attempt to continue schooling them.
I’ll try to describe a day in the life of an average Chechen --- I’m not talking about Kadyrov’s bureaucrats…who generally get paid regularly.
In the morning, he emerges from the ruins of his home. He has not bathed, because there simply is no place to wash oneself; plumbing remains virtually nonexistent. He leaves his dwelling in a blurry haze, because he has left the gas burner on all night to heat the apartment. (When you sleep in a room where gas is used for heat, in the morning, you invariably wake up feeling extremely lethargic; I know this from my own experiences.) Then, he goes outside and decides what has to be done to scrape together some money by evening. In the center of Grozny there is a day-labor market, where you can go and sometimes find temporary manual work…In the evening, he returns with a little cash. He is welcomed with joy, because when people part in the morning, they say goodbye as if it were for the last time. That’s because it’s likely you won’t return, especially if you are male. It’s now nothing short of custom to bid one’s final farewell in the morning... And that’s why people are overjoyed at night when the day ends with the return of their loved one. Chechens live one day at a time.
WP: In neighboring, peaceful Dagestan, a large number of the able-bodied population is unemployed. In the warring Chechen republic, it’s much harder to live an ordinary life. What’s likely to result from this situation?
Politkovskaya: It can’t go on forever. But the average Chechen has no place to hide. The only way for him to find normalcy in life is by fleeing the country. What do I mean by ‘normalcy in life?’ You lead a normal life; you earn a living and bathe every day. And you don’t have to sleep in your clothes… Think about it: for six years people have been sleeping fully clothed because they live in constant fear of what might befall them. The result is a collective mood of gloom and despair. A legion of psychiatric workers should be deployed to Chechnya once the fighting has ended…
WP: Does religion at all play a role in Chechnya?
Politkovskaya: Of course it’s present to a certain degree. Chechens often say that in such a miserable environment, Allah is the only one they can truly rely on. Without a doubt, it does play a role. Faith helps people reconcile themselves to what is happening around them every hour of every day. There is also another aspect. At this time in the conflict, many young people have become radicalized. In almost entirely unreligious families, where the parents have a typical Soviet mentality, their children are turning to religion.
I know many families in which the children have begun to develop into ultra-religious believers, and the parents have decided to flee Chechnya for no other reason than to save their children, to keep them from becoming religious fanatics and joining the ranks of the Wahhabis. The only true heroes are the parents. But our government has done everything it can to push Chechnya’s children toward fanaticism.
WP: Do the Chechens look back nostalgically at any particular period in their collective history?
Politkovskaya: I’ve posed the question many, many times: When were the happiest moments in your life? The typical response is: during the Brezhnev era. Chechens say that people meddled in their affairs least of all then; there was peace and everything was good. It’s horrible when you ask older people who survived Stalin’s 1944 deportations, and they insist that the deportations were better. When I first heard this I was shocked, but I kept hearing the same response over and over again. Elderly told me: “Then, everything was clear. We were loaded up and transported off. We knew where we were being taken... Today, we don’t know who we can turn to…”
Chechens live in circumstances now where it’s not clear who’s your enemy and who’s your friend… Where are the courts? Where are the public prosecutors? They don’t exist! Who can you appeal to? Maskhadov? Out of the question. Maskhadov’s people don’t protect the public…
WP: Among all the different forces present in Chechnya, can you describe any of them as “good?”
Politkovskaya: I believe local human rights groups are the most positive element in Chechen society. They are the most progressive and are largely from the intelligentsia former teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc. They are bringing in much needed capital. The Memorial Society, which has an office in Grozny, sponsors a medical support program and finds funding for it in the West. The program has made possible the evacuation of so many children to Vladikavkaz and Moscow! They are true helpers of the people…
WP: Sooner or later this conflict will end at the negotiation table. What does the future hold for Chechnya? What’s the people’s general mood?
Politkovskaya: Chechen society is obsessed with one thought: “Leave us alone!”… I believe the path to a decent life in Chechnya will be extremely difficult. Not just because it’s extremely hard to broker a peace deal. The war has already created so many problems that will take many years to resolve. It won’t happen in the course of a day. It will entail monumental reconstruction, both moral and material. I’m not even sure that all the EU’s resources would be enough to do it…
WP: After Basayev and Khattab invaded Dagestan, could Russia have chosen a better way of resolving the Chechen issue? What should have been done then?
Politkovskaya: I usually don’t like talking about what should have been done... The answer is obvious: Basayev’s and Khattab’s gang should have been eliminated in the mountains of Dagestan. It would have been an adequate response given the circumstances; I am absolutely certain of that…
WP: Rumors have circulated that Basayev was once a Russian intelligence agent. Is there any truth to that?
Politkovskaya: I am a journalist. I would never consider him a member of the Russian intelligence unless I saw irrefutable evidence confirming this. I only know that there were many stories during the second Chechen war, when opportunities for making peace were near…and then Basayev would invariably attack. There were many occasions when he proved expedient for those elements of the Russian military and factions of the Kremlin leadership that never really wanted peace.