The Kremlin has claimed since 1999 that Chechnya has stabilized, but a vicious low-grade conflict continues, marked by terrorism, extrajudicial killings and brutal treatment of the local population by both sides, according to human rights groups.
Maskhadov's recent standing within the fragmented and increasingly radical resistance had been unclear. Many analysts described his position as having been usurped by Basayev, his former subordinate.
A special forces officer holds a Chechen flag as he searches the site where Aslan Maskhadov was killed.
(Russian NTV via AP)
|
A Chechen Leader
From
washingtonpost.com
at 1:06 AM
1951: Maskhadov born in Kazakhstan. His parents had been among 400,000 other Chechens and Ingush deported to the Central Asian republic by Joseph Stalin.
1960s: Maskhadov joins the Soviet army after returning to his parents’ homeland in 1957.
1991: As the Soviet Union disintegrates, Dzhokhar Dudayev, a Soviet air force general, seizes main government buildings in Grozny and declares independence. Dudayev is elected president.
1992: Maskhadov becomes chief of staff of the rebel Chechen army.
1994: Russian troops invade Chechnya in December but face strong resistance from rebels under Maskhadov’s command. Although Russian forces capture Grozny, the rebels continue fighting.
1996: Chechens fight Russian forces to a standstill; Russian forces withdraw. An accord negotiated with Moscow, in effect, recognizes Chechnya’s political autonomy.
1997: Maskhadov is elected president and signs an accord with President Boris Yeltsin to end the conflict. But Chechnya remains chaotic. Maskhadov’s control weakens as other rebel leaders evolve into warlords. Maskhadov escapes two assassination attempts.
1999: President Vladimir Putin sends troops back into Chechnya. Maskhadov is believed to control only a small faction of fighters.
2000: After fierce clashes, Maskhadov and the rebel forces flee to the mountains.
2002: Putin installs a government. Russian forces start “cleanup operations” among civilians, resulting in disappearances and killings of hundreds of Chechen civilians. Tens of thousands of Chechens flee to neighboring Ingushetia.
2004: Attacks on Russian civilians escalate, including the takeover of a school in Beslan, in southern Russia, for which Maskhadov’s former subordinate, Shamil Basayev, asserts responsibility.
SOURCES: Staff report and news services
|
| |
|
Through a rebel Web site, Maskhadov had been calling on the Kremlin to discuss a settlement of the war with international mediators and recently declared a week-long cease-fire that seemed to indicate that he still held sway over other commanders, observers said.
Russian officials dismissed the cease-fire call as a stunt and said rebel operations continued.
The cease-fire expired Feb. 22, the 61st anniversary of the forced deportation of Chechens from their homeland by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Maskhadov was born in exile in Kazakhstan and did not return to his parent's home village until he was 7.
"We believe that 30 minutes of honest dialogue face to face is enough to stop this war and to explain to the president of the Russian federation what the Chechens want," Maskhadov said in an interview this month that was posted on the Kavkaz Center Web site. But he went on to say that without a settlement, "the flames of this war will embrace the whole of the North Caucasus. The Russian people will constantly experience the fear of possible retribution."
An organization of mothers of Russian soldiers, who have been among the most vociferous opponents of Russia's continued prosecution of the war, met recently in London with Maskhadov's representative, Akhmad Zakayev. They agreed that the conflict could not be settled by force and blamed the terrorism it has triggered on the "shortsighted and criminal policies" of the Russian government. The government condemned the meeting.
Speaking on Echo Moskvy radio Tuesday night, Zakayev said: "Maskhadov's death will lead to an outburst of terrorism in Chechnya and all over Russia. . . . I'm absolutely sure that this may complicate the situation even further because Maskhadov was a deterring factor preventing the spread of this conflict. Until the last moment, he had been trying to get the Kremlin to understand all the processes underway in the Northern Caucasus."
The Kremlin repeatedly rejected such overtures, but there had been some signals recently, including in remarks made by Putin in Germany, that the government might be open to international help in resolving the conflict. And implicitly, Putin understood that U.S. or European Union mediators were likely to involve Maskhadov in the process, Russian observers said.
"Privately, people in the Kremlin, even Putin, recognized that Maskhadov represented a moderate branch of the Chechen resistance, and comparing him to Basayev was just a game," Alexei Malashenko, an expert on the Caucasus at the Moscow Carnegie Center, said in an interview. "The Russian opposition, the mothers of soldiers and others have all been talking about the necessity of negotiation. The question now is: With whom do you negotiate?"