Abstract

Putin's War

This article discusses that position of Russian President Vladimir Putin after the hostage crisis in Beslan resulted in over 300 deaths. The bloody end to the hostage crisis in Beslan resulted in unfathomable human suffering. More than 300 children, parents and teachers died in the gruesome fifty-two-hour siege that began when heavily armed Chechens--and possibly other guerrillas from the Caucasus--stormed Middle School No. 1. These latest acts expose the bankruptcy of President Vladimir Putin's war policy toward Chechnya. From the beginning, he built his career and image on a promise to bring permanent stability, order and security to Russia's people. Instead, his brutal policies, particularly against Chechen civilians, have spurred the wave of terrorism that now afflicts Russia. No less self-defeating has been Putin's refusal to negotiate with the Chechen government, which his troops overthrew in 1999. With his once-high popularity eroded by growing resentment over the Kremlin's decision to replace longstanding free social benefits with inadequate cash payments, Putin tried in a nationwide address to deflect attention from the failure of his policies by linking the recent terrorist assaults to the "war" on international terrorism. After first supporting Putin's characterization of the Beslan tragedy, the Bush State Department then urged him to negotiate: "There must be a political settlement" in Chechnya, said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. For once, the State Department is right. For the first time in many years, voices can be heard in Russia calling for a political solution as the only way out. And yet Putin continues to reject the political nature of the Chechen war, blaming everything from Yeltsin's legacy and the breakup of the Soviet Union to international terrorists and shadowy Western forces that support them, while trying to shut off discussion at home by cracking down on the media.