Chechnya: some of today's realities

There are facts in the life of the republic that cannot but disturb

The article "Traitors arms", Published in the newspaper" Moskovsky Komsomolets "for 15 July 2010, caused a lot of noise. I remind you that it was about the alleged facts of betrayal by servicemen from the North battalion formed by the Chechens of their colleagues, the special forces of the Internal Troops who arrived in the North Caucasus from Ufa, during a joint combat operation. I recently managed to visit the battalion. I want to share my impressions of what he saw and heard in his location, as well as reflections on this matter.

But before proceeding with the story, I can not fail to note: in recent weeks, the “Chechen theme” has not left the newspaper pages, has not disappeared from television and radio, the Internet. Why - everyone knows (the murder of a young Muscovite on Chistye Prudy, a mass brawl in the children's health camp "Don"). Hence the heated debate about the relationship between the Russians and the Chechens, about the fact that it is these relations that aggravate, leading to serious conflicts. One of the reasons I was able to find in Grozny ...

"THE DEAD AMERICATED ARE NOT IMMUT." HOW TO BE WITH LIVE?

"North", more precisely - the 248-th separate special motorized battalion named after Hero of Russia Akhmat Kadyrov is deployed on the outskirts of the capital of the Chechen Republic, in the former 15-th military town. In the first Chechen campaign, it housed the 101 Brigade of the Interior Troops of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation, the last stronghold of the Russian military presence in rebel Ichkeria and the last to leave its territory.

Nowadays, this memorable place, relatively recently representing a picturesque ruins, is not to be recognized. Before the battalion checkpoint, there are two large banners with images of the head of the Russian Interior Ministry, Army General Rashid Nurgaliyev and Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Troops, Colonel General Nikolai Rogozhkin, with the eloquent utterance of the latter: its present and future. ”

The location of the battalion in all respects draws on an exemplary military camp: a comfortable family dormitory, a canteen, a Kubrikov-type barracks, a spacious car park, warehouses, a club. Exclusive is the battalion mosque. In confirmation that this is not a tribute to fashion, but an urgent need, another banner was posted next: Ramzan Kadyrov in a maroon beret next to the commander of the “North” battalion, his cousin, against the backdrop of the cathedral of the Terrible and the corresponding moment: “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Most Merciful, the Lord of the worlds! Serve the Fatherland and the people with the name of Allah on their lips! ”(You must admit, an important addition to the words of the Commander-in-Chief of the BB). Such a “Allah akbar!”, Which, however, in translation means a completely peaceful “God is the greatest!” Is not a call for Russian soldiers to be slaughtered.

It was striking that all the ordinary soldiers and commanders of the “North” that I met did not wear insignia. What caused the universal violation of the statute? The familiar officer of the 46 th separate brigade of the BB, where the 248 th battalion is structurally included, explained to me popularly - the titles in the “North” do not play a significant role. Much more important, what are you, countryman, family-tribe, and how close your teip is close to the Kadyrov family. Therefore, in the future, the author of these lines was no longer surprised by the rather loose communication of the battalion servicemen in violation of all the requirements of a military subordination or the carrying of sentry and daytime services while sitting. The impression was that people wearing military uniforms prefer their civilian, domestic habits to tedious and difficult statutory requirements.

The same familiar officer from the 46 Brigade told how he met a lieutenant who arrived with the inspection general in a battalion. Probably, the children of Santa Claus are met about the same way - roughly and joyfully: “Oh, you are a general ?! Hello!".

True, it is impossible not to recall that such free morals reigned in the famous Wild Division, formed from Caucasian highlander volunteers and famous on the battlefields of the First World War. The personnel of this compound, distinguished by courage, courage, and military skill, also did not really respect the rules of subordination and honoring in the imperial army.

It is difficult for an outsider to appreciate the contribution of the North battalion to the counterterrorist operation. At least that the “northerners” suffer combat losses, eloquently says a memorial stele dedicated to Akhmat Kadyrov, where, next to the portrait of the deceased President of the Chechen Republic embodied in granite, are the names of the fighters who fell in battles with gangsters. Peace to their souls! Maybe for someone their death will serve as the last weighty argument in favor of the fact that this battalion is still fighting on our side.

"The dead shall not shame." And what about the living?

I agree with the author of the article in question that there is no particular love between the Russians and the Chechens, much less the servicemen. And where did she come from? Stupid, of course, the question after the protracted mutual bloodletting of the last two campaigns ...

Interestingly, the question of Russian-Chechen friendship was relevant, for example, even 80 years ago. The memo to the fighter who participated under the cover of maneuvers in the operation to disarm bandit formations on the territory of Chechnya in 1925 indicated: “One of the most important tasks of the Red Army maneuver and operations is to build correct relations with the population. To fix the Red Army’s bow with the worker and peasant ... The Red Army man must think through his every action: would he not remind the old days of the Highlander Chechen, would he not create in him a national enmity to the Russians. ”

This maniacal fear of the Soviet government with something and somehow offended the highlanders, constant flirting with them was caused, of course, not by the desire for true friendship, but by the fear of losing control over the desperately courageous recalcitrant people. This eventually led to deportation and two Chechen campaigns.

Yes, the question of the Russian-Chechen friendship and military partnership remains controversial and open. But so to speak, in general, in theoretical terms. Because both friendship and even martial brotherhood bind specific servicemen. After all, Chechen fighters have something to respect. And then, as people in the know say: “If you have a true friend, a Chechen, then consider yourself lucky.” And the cult of the priesthood in the republic has not yet been lost.

But at the same time I would like to turn further to the facts, which involuntarily make one wonder: do the Chechen authorities take all the necessary measures to make the Chechens friends with the Russians?

NOT IN WORD, AND IN BUSINESS

In the Grozny print house shop, the holy of holies of the free voice of the Chechen people, where, in my opinion, the best of what is published in the republic should be sold, among the works on stories and the culture of the Vainakh people, I found some very interesting publications.

For example, a rare book - a collection of jokes called "Chechens laugh." It was printed back in 1997, when the republic was ruled by Maskhadov, Yandarbiyev, Basayev and other "statesmen", later announced in the international wanted list as a result of involvement in terrorism and destroyed by Russian troops and special services. Did the book end up in the store by chance, get lost on the shelves, haven’t it been withdrawn or hidden in the archives? With those tough measures, with the help of which Kadyrov Jr. brings order to the republic, this is hard to believe. I leaf through, I read: “The general is sitting in a hairdressing salon in Moscow. The hairdresser, while continuing to cut, from time to time asks the general:

- Where did they fight?

- In Chechnya.

- Where are you talking?

- In Chechnya.

- And lately?

- In Chechnya.

- Repeat where they fought?

- Are you deaf? For the tenth time I repeat: in Chechnya, in Chechnya, in Chechnya!

- I'm not deaf. But I have my own method of cutting the military who fought in Chechnya. With every word “Chechnya”, your hair stands on end, and it's easier for me to cut your hair. ”

***

“Under Dudayev, a Chechen, Ahmed, asks his old friend:

- Well, Vanya, how is life?

- Is this life? Shit, not life!

The feds came, put the constitutional order. Ahmed again asks a friend:

- Well, Vanya, how is life?

“Do you remember what I told you last time?”

- I remember.

- So it turns out, it was jam ... "

***

“The military prosecutor’s office is investigating the failure of the federal battalion.

It turns out that a wounded Chechen was transferred to a wounded officer. The officer, returning to the unit, shouted at night, “Allah Akbar!”, And the soldiers ran in different directions, thinking that the Chechens had penetrated into the location.

They didn’t understand what was going on until a part was disbanded. ”

***

“At the village gathering of citizens, they decided on the question of surrendering weapons to the feds so that they would stop bombing the villages and kill women, children, the elderly, the sick.

As a result of the discussion, the document was unanimously adopted, the main point of which read: “Take away weapons from Chechen illegal gangs and transfer them to Russian legal gangs” ...

N-yes, I think any of our military, especially those who fought in Chechnya, after such jokes, will not have a desire to strengthen friendship with the Chechens.

And here is another book, Chechnya through the eyes of a Chechen, published in ten thousand copies in 2001, freely sold directly in the foyer of the Press House. Its author, Umalat Umalatov, from the first pages of his creation, does not hide sympathy for Johar Dudayev; accuses of aggravating the conflict between Grozny and Moscow only and exclusively the Russian government; trying to justify the legitimacy of the actions of the general-president, arguing that they found full support from the Chechen people. It is hard to believe in it. Tendentiousness and falsity of the book are visible to the naked eye, and numerous blunders cited in it demonstrate the "dampness" of Umalatov as an author and the "dullness" of a person who has received higher education in the USA.

For example, Umalatov seriously asserts that the units of the paratroopers on the territory of Chechnya (in fact, the soldiers of the Vityaz special forces detachment), arrived here in November 1991 of the year to fulfill the decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the introduction of the state of emergency in the Chechen Republic, accompanied “with flowers, gifts and good wishes” and that “the soldiers were touched by such an attitude to themselves”. Those who want to make sure, as it really was, refer to the memoirs of General Anatoly Kulikov "Heavy Stars".

In another place, the author makes a “bold” statement that on the eve of the introduction of troops into Chechnya there “14 districts, 5 cities and 4 villages were inhabited by Russians”. As far as is known, there are only three cities in the Chechen Republic - Grozny, Gudermes and Argun. And what about 14 areas "populated by Russians," writes Umalat Umalatov? The Russians, in better, more peaceful times, preferred to live mainly in the cities and in the left-bank areas that were formerly part of Stavropol region. Obviously, the author had been in America for so long that he thoroughly forgot his little homeland. Or overseas education in the United States influenced Mr. Umalatov so much?

For example, he gladly narrates the cruelty, cunning and deceit of the rulers of Russia, the "barbarism" of the Russian people. Take this pearl: "The Kremlin dreamers and this time hoped to use the eternal method of unprincipled policy:" Kill the enemies with your hands with your enemies. " That’s how, according to Umalat Umalatov, Russian princes allegedly always acted. “And Ivan the Terrible,” he writes further, “even Kazan managed to take the hands of the Tatars”. Peter the Great and “his” falsified in the West (which has already been proven many times) with a “testament”, and, of course, the Russian Bolsheviks (despite the fact that they always considered themselves internationalists!), Who can now safely fall all to heap. Thanks to such a policy, Umalatov categorically asserts, “more than a hundred (!) ... peoples have disappeared in Russia”. But that is not all.

Entering into a clear contradiction with the recent history, the author also proves that the second Chechen campaign began with Russia's attack on Chechnya, and not vice versa. In the “events in Dagestan”, as he casually calls the August invasion of 1999 Wahhabis from Chechen territory into the neighboring republic, Moscow is, of course, guilty of provoking the extremists with its inaction, which Umalatov confirms with words ... Aslan Maskhadov. Such a move on the forces was, perhaps, only to Dr. Goebbels, tirelessly repeating in his time that the Soviet Union was to blame for the German attack on the USSR, and referring to the Fuhrer at the same time.

As the “true patriot of Chechnya” should be, Umalatov actually justifies Basayev’s actions in Budennovsk, emphasizing his nobility (?!) As a special feature of the Chechens, and elevates the main “peacemaker” Sergey Kovalyov up to heaven, about whose treacherous “peacekeeping” efforts at the time a lot has been written. Going further, the author puts him on a par with "the best people of Russia - A. S. Pushkin, L. N. Tolstoy ..."

It flatters him when one of the Russian journalists writes about the “special mentality of the Chechens”, their “mountain dignity”. "The real patriot of Chechnya" Umalatov behaves with the secret thought that all other peoples, including Russians, have neither a special mentality nor such dignity (well, how can we, the descendants of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Suvorov, Yermolov). And not sparing the paper, he quotes at length the authors of the like-minded authors caressing his ears. Of course, as is customary for "real Chechen patriots", he categorically denies the massive participation of his countrymen in the Great Patriotic War on the side of Nazi Germany: "Not a single Chechen (?!) Became a traitor to a country that was called the Soviet Union."

Inspired by nationalist ideas, the author openly bites a helping hand extended to his people by the Russian Federation, which, once again tightening the belt, rebuilds Chechnya: "The trouble awaits the people whom Russia will help, for Russia reminds Danaians who bring gifts." Obnaglev completely, he also urges Russians to repent to the Chechens for all the offenses they have ever suffered.

Everywhere, through the whole book, the familiar desire of the unworthy stepchildren of the Russian Federation to annoy, humiliate, kick my country, my people goes. And I would not take the reader’s time if this book was sold in Chechnya of the 1997 or 2001 model of the year, but it is being sold in 2010, in the Press House of the Chechen Republic, which is in the legal field of Russia. Do you understand the difference?

I experienced a similar sense of bewilderment and visited the Akhmat Kadyrov Museum. The exhibition displays paintings by Chechen artists, selected, obviously, at the highest level. Among the works were quite good, but I want to say a few words not about their artistic value, but about the ideological orientation. For example, the picture “Welcome to Hell!” Is dedicated to the events of the first entry of Russian troops into the republic. Such slogans were met then by our soldiers on the houses of Grozny. The main character of the film is the Chechen people, who defended their freedom with arms in their hands. In the center of the canvas is a woman with a gun and a boy in a blood-red Circassian with two grenades in her hands. Such is the "Allah Akbar!" What is not a recruiting poster for future martyrs?

Or the picture “Baysangur”, which depicts an associate of Imam Shamil, captured by Russian troops, a Chechen Baysangur Benoevsky, who lost an arm, an eye and an eye in battle. He is handcuffed to the Russian gendarme and, turning, looks at the homeland being left. The name of this person is too memorable for the Chechens as a symbol of the highlander who did not surrender to the Russians (unlike Shamil), who until the end remained a sworn enemy of Russia. Read the comments of young Chechens on the Internet to his biography and it will become clear how this painting works.

All this looks strange against the background of Ramzan Kadyrov’s repeated statements that he is a law-abiding citizen of Russia, who honors and respects her laws. “The Chechen Republic lives in the single legal space of the Russian Federation,” he stressed in an interview with the Islam.ru website. “This is where the Constitution and the laws of the country work as well as in other subjects.”

In an interview with the news agency “South of Russia”, Kadyrov noted that “the Chechen people have never been an opponent of Russia. On the contrary, we always wanted to live in peace and harmony with all the peoples inhabiting great Russia ... Chechens are innocent of the events that took place in the republic in the middle of the 90-s. They never supported the then rulers of Chechnya, who did not observe either the traditions or the customs of their people. Many residents could not even attend mosques to pray, as alien radicals brought innovations to traditional Islam. Dudayev, Maskhadov and Basayev sold Chechen oil, the proceeds of which were distributed at their discretion, while the people finally became impoverished. ”

In short, in words in Chechnya everything is done as it should, it is an integral part of Russia, the Chechens are trying to instill a desire to live in peace with all the peoples of the Russian Federation, the president of the Chechen Republic has full control over the situation there ... But what about? Does Ramzan Akhmatovich really not have enough time to look at what works are displayed at exhibitions, what books are sold in Grozny?