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Russian
Governor Backs Colonel's Pardon
By Mara D. Bellaby, The Guardian, September 21, 2004
Russia's human rights ombudsman, Vladimir
Lukin, said he would advise the president against
pardoning Budanov.
Russian
Who Killed Chechen May Get a Pardon
By Sophia Kishkovsky, The New York Times, September
18, 2004
Vladimir
Lukin, Russia's human rights ombudsman, told Interfax
by telephone from Athens that he would recommend that
Mr. Putin be cautious about approving the pardon.
Human
rights commissioner against the pardoning of Budanov
Interfax, September 17, 2004
"I can say only one thing here. Naturally, as
human rights commissioner, I am inclined to support
humane solutions on any issues. And if an individual
repents for his crime and truly changes, he has to
be pardoned..."
What
Happened to Russia?
By Grigory Yavlinsky, www.yavlinsky.ru, September
15, 2004
What happened to Russia? It drowned. In lies and cynicism.
Still, we have to swim on. We cannot sink to the bottom
of this sea of cynicism and lies. Many people cannot
live on in this way. After getting a taste of truth
and freedom once, hoping that it will be possible
to live in Russia and human dignity will be observed,
they have become inner defectors.
After
the tragedy in Beslan
By Grigory Yavlinsky, www.yavlinsky.ru, September
6, 2004
The authorities should take three steps, which can
be broken down into three areas. Economic: the people
must have normal jobs, incomes and living conditions.
Military: the local habitants should be able to trust
the actions carried out to capture the bandits...
Political: it is necessary to involve as many Chechens
as possible in the discussion of developments in Chechnya...
Liberals
Against Naming Moscow Street After Chechen President
MosNews, August 18, 2004
Russian democratic party Yabloko has made an announcement
against the decision by the Moscow authorities to
name a street after the killed Chechen president Akhmad
Kadyrov.
Russia
Must Be True to Its Words in Chechnya
By Andrei Piontkovsky, The Moscow Times, June 8, 2004
What are we fighting for in Chechnya? For the territorial
integrity of Russia, of course. But territorial integrity
does not mean uninhabited scorched earth. We are fighting
in order to prove to the Chechens that they are citizens
of Russia. In doing so, however, we are destroying
their cities and villages and kidnapping innocent
civilians whose corpses turn up bearing evidence of
torture.
After
the Act of Terror in Grozny on May 9
By Andrei Ryabov, Gazeta, May 11, 2004
The developments of May 9 in Grozny really shocked
the Russian political class. This is not simply a
strong epithet. The moral and psychological consequences
of the act of terror which took away the lives of
the president of Chechnya Akhmat Kadyrov and several
heads of the republic are obvious.
Andrei
Piontkovsky: it would be catastrophic if the future
of Chechnya were entrusted to Kadyrov Junior.
polit.ru, May 11, 2004
The [federal] centre should support Aslambek Aslakhanov
at the presidential elections in Chechnya. This is
the point of view of a well-known political scientist
Andrei Piontkovsky. There are no good decisions concerning
Chechnya.
Sergei
Mitrokhin: Act of terror in Grozny confirms that war
against everyone is going on in Chechnya
Rosbalt, May 9, 2004
According to the Deputy Head of the YABLOKO party,
the clan-based system of power formed in Chechnya
is extremely inefficient and dangerous. The fact that
Kadyrov's son was the head of security demonstrates
that the president of Chechnya did not trust anyone...
On
the 60th anniversary of the mass-scale deportation
of the Chechen and Ingush peoples
The Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO, Bureau of the
Federal Council, Statement, February 20, 2004
Hundreds of thousands people were forcefully pushed
out of their native places of residence where their
ancestors had been living for centuries and deprived
of their property. Tens of thousands of died during
transportation and in the hard conditions of exile.
Awfully
Familiar The war in Chechnya - now sending suicide
bombers to Moscow - is becoming Russia's version of
Palestine
By Yuri Zarakhovich, Time Europe, July 12, 2003
"Now suicide bombers will start hitting Russia."
On
the adoption by the Duma of Act Amnesty for Chechnya
BBC, Broadcast 6 June 2003
Only those Chechens who are not implicated in crimes
such as murder, kidnap, or rape may be pardoned. But
first they must surrender and wait for the outcome
of an investigation of their past.
Grigory
Yavlinsky: Peace conference on Chechnya should be
conducted in Moscow
Grani.ru, June 8, 2003
...We think it absolutely necessary to conduct a peace
conference on Chechnya in Moscow, it should be chaired
by the President of Russia and based on the Russian
Constitution and Russian laws.
Russia
parliament approves partial Chechen amnesty
By Jeremy Page, Reuters, June 6, 2003
Russia's parliament gave final approval on Friday
to a limited amnesty for fighters in separatist Chechnya
that the Kremlin says will help end a decade of conflict
in the region.
Duma
Approves Chechen Amnesty
By Nabi Abdullaev, The Moscow Times, May 22, 2003.
The Yabloko faction opposed the bill. An amnesty will
not contribute to peace in Chechnya until the rampant
mopping-up operations that federal troops conduct
in Chechen villages are drastically limited and Chechen
borders are effectively sealed so hardened rebels
cannot escape, said Alexei
Arbatov, the faction's point man on the bill.
Russia
Lawmakers: End Abuses In Chechnya, Open Peace Talks
Associated Press, May 18, 2003
Liberal Russian lawmakers called Sunday for an end
to abuses by Russian forces in Chechnya and for talks
aimed at bringing peace to the region, where deadly
violence has persisted despite the Kremlin's efforts
to defeat rebels and enhance stability.
Alexei
Arbatov: "Election at war time is nonsense."
By Natalya Gorodetskaya, Politburo, March 31, 2003
The voting won't provide an answer as to whether there
is a state of emergency in Chechnya today or not;
whether you can stop anyone at a control post, asking
for bribes or not; whether you can arrest people without
the authorization of a public prosecutor or not, etc:
This means that the referendum has not resolved the
conflict - and there has been a conflict - between
the military and the population.
Referendum
in Chechnya
Special for YABLOKO web-site, By Grigory Yavlinsky,
March 24, 2003
Real progress towards an improvement in the situation
can be expected, if the authorities adhere to their
promises on guaranteeing social support for the citizens
of Chechnya and there is an end to the mop-ups, torture,
violence and kidnapping of people.
Artists
Call for Peace in Chechnya
Smena, St.Petersburg, March 20, 2003
An open letter to all the citizens of Russia on an
end to the war in Chechnya was signed by 60 prominent
figures of arts and science in Russia.
Where
all the Democrats Agreed
By Ekaterina Blatova, Novaya Gazeta, March 20,
2003
Explaining at a press conference the position of the
YABLOKO party, Deputy Head of the Party Igor
Artemyev said that: "In general we support
the adopted statement, but we think that a peaceful
conference must be chaired by the President of Russia,
as this is the only way to guarantee that the decisions
adopted at the conference are real and will be implemented".
Let
Us Join Together to Stop the War in Chechnya
Novaya Gazeta, March 20, 2003
We call on our compatriots to do away with passivity
and indifference. We represent the state! The country
is what we make of it.
Grigory
Yavlinsky: "Russia should not send a single soldier
to the war."
Ekho Moskvi radio station, March 19, 2003
Speaking in an interview with Russian Ekho Moskvy
radio on 19 March, Grigory
Yavlinsky said a large international contingent
should be amassed to bring political and military
pressure to bear on Iraq, but that action should stop
short of a large-scale military operation. In the
same interview, the Yabloko leader also cast doubts
on the value of the Chechen referendum, arguing that
only a peace conference chaired by the Russian President
could alter the situation in the republic.
Grigory
Yavlinsky: "Mop-ups, robberies and violence should
be stopped."
Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky, "Politbureau"
journal, March 17, 2003
The consequences of an unprepared referendum can also
bring dangers: they can aggravate contradictions inside
the Chechen community: they can play into the hands
of the forces interested in civil war.
"On
the attitude towards holding a referendum on Constitution
in Chechnya and the necessity to convoke a peace conference."
Statement, The All-Russia Democratic Assembly,
Moscow, March 17, 2003
The situation in Chechnya can only be resolved through
a wide-ranging political process, involving all the
interested parties.
Putin
offers Chechens sweeping autonomy under new constitution
AFP, March 17, 2003
The constitution would "give Chechnya a chance
to reconstruct its life and obtain sweeping autonomy
within Russia's borders," Putin said in a televised
address broadcast late Sunday to the few Chechen households
that still have access to television.
Yabloko
Party opposes an unprepared referendum in Chechnya
Interfax, March 12, 2003
MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax) - Yabloko Party leader
Grigory Yavlinsky believes that the Chechen referendum
has not been fully prepared and that a peace conference
with all the warring parties should be held instead.
On
regulation of the crisis in Chechnya
Statement, The Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO, March
11, 2003
The Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO thinks that the
situation in Chechnya can only be settled as part
of wide-ranging political process involving all interested
parties.
After
the referendum - not too much
By Andrei Piontkovsky, The Russia Journal, February
21-27, 2003
A demonstration against the Chechen War in central
Moscow on Feb. 1 attracted just a few hundred people.
Wet snow fell on the yellow robes of Buddhists beating
a tambourine that somehow made a particularly mournful
and lonely sound. The state TV channels either ignored
the demonstration altogether or emphasized the small
number of people it drew.
Chechen
Referendum Will Solve Nothing
By Grigory Yavlinsky, The Moscow Times, February 20,
2003
It is clearly unrealistic to expect a referendum can
be held in just over a month that will foster a political
process which will put an end to the bloodshed --
given the existing situation in Chechnya and the time
constraints.
Return
of the refugees residing in Ingushetia to Chechnya
is inadmissible
Aliance Media, December 10, 2002
The leader of the YABLOKO party Grigory Yavlinsky
said that the problem of refugees from Chechnya was
discussed at the meeting of the Presidium of the Federal
Council of the YABLOKO party. Earlier some human rights
activists and journalists had informed the public
that the Ingush authorities had made Chechen refugees
leave the "Iman" camp. This information
was subsequently refuted by Presidential Aid Sergei
Yastrzhembsky.
Why
Doesn't the Budget Allocate Expenditures on War Separately?
Novaya Gazeta, November 28, 2002
Such a situation has developed since the first military
campaign in Chechnya. At the time there considerable
debate about the need to introduce a separate budget
item on [the war in] Chechnya. Unfortunately, however,
even then there were already a considerable number
of opponents to such transparency. Nobody wants to
disclose the exact figure for expenditures.
The
Expenditures Are Typical of War Rather Than an "Operation"
Interview with Alexei Arbatov by Irina Gordiyenko
Novaya Gazeta, November 18, 2002
Alexei Arbatov, member of the State Duma commission
for reviewing federal budget expenditures allotted
to defence and security issues of the Russian Federation,
told us about the specifics of the formation of the
"budget of war".
Alexei Arbatov: What Should We Do About Chechnya?
Interview with Alexei Arbatov by Mikhail Falaleev
Komsomolskaya Pravda, November 9, 2002
We need to review the course of action we have pursued
in Chechnya over the past three years - the military,
economic, and political aspects. Look, even the Defense
Minister Sergei Ivanov recently referred to events
in Chechnya as "a war" - previously, the official
term was "counter-terrorist operation". This indicates
that events are getting out of control.
Yavlinsky
calls untimely the Moscow conference of supporters
of talks with Maskhadov
Interfax, November 9, 2002
MOSCOW. Nov 9 (Interfax) - Leader of the Yabloko party
Grigory Yavlinskyhas called inappropriate the timing
of the conference For the Termination of War and a
Peace Settlement in the Chechen Republic, which is
being held in Moscow on Saturday.
Russia
to Probe Hostage Crisis
Associated Press, By Sarah Karush, November 15, 2002
Moscow (AP) - President Vladimir Putin will appoint
an official to investigate last month's hostage crisis
in a Moscow theater that left 128 captives dead, a
leading Russian lawmaker said Friday.
In
Russia, "Nothing Is Debated"
Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky by Paul Starobin
and Catherine Belton
BusinessWeek Online, November 13, 2002
In Russia, "Nothing Is Debated". So says Grigory Yavlinsky,
whose efforts to negotiate an end to the Moscow theater
siege reminded him that the Soviet mindset lives on
With dark rings under his eyes and a look of exhaustion
on his face, it was clear Grigory Yavlinsky, leader
of the liberal Russian parliamentary faction Yabloko,
had been through a hellish few days. An advocate of
ending Russia's war in the breakaway republic of Chechnya,
he was among the few allowed to negotiate with the
armed Chechen terrorists who took some 800 people
hostage in a Moscow theater Oct. 23 in a tense three-day
siege.
Forum
Tries to Find Peace for Chechnya
The Moscow Times, By Judith Ingram, November 11, 2002.
Human rights activists, liberal politicians and Chechen
representatives gathered at a Moscow hotel on Saturday
to discuss an unpopular idea -- ending the three-year
war in Chechnya through peace talks.
Putin
hints at new action to solve Chechnya
Reuters, By Richard Balmforth, November
9, 2002
MOSCOW, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir
Putin, under international pressure to end the Chechnya
conflict peacefully after a bloody hostage-seizure
in Moscow, gave his backing on Saturday for new political
moves in the rebel region.
A
Generation Raised With War
The Moscow Times, By Anna Politkovskaya, November
4, 2002
Abu Bakar lifts the black mask covering his face.
We are staring, examining each other at close quarters,
both trying to understand what's going to happen when
this, yet another Russian tragedy, is over. Abu Bakar,
a 29-year-old Chechen, looks 40. He is deputy commander
of the terrorist group that has taken several hundred
people hostage. I am a journalist who has come to
the captured theater to negotiate. I am trying to
understand who these people are. Who is behind them?
And, more important, what comes after them?
Russian
liberal politician calls for end to the Chechen war
Channel 3 TV, Moscow, October 3, 2002
Russian liberal Yabloko party leader Grigoriy
Yavlinsky urged President Vladimir Putin to put an
end to the war in Chechnya, which he described as
pure "bloodshed" and a "political adventure",
and launch negotiations with rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov.
He also said that Russian army colonel Yury Budanov,
accused of murdering a Chechen girl, should be convicted.
Chechnya
Nezavisimoe Voyennoye Obozrenie, July 19, 2002 (Archives)
by Alexei Arbatov
A controversial presidential bill on combating extremism
was pushed through the State Duma by On June 6 the
Duma resolutely voted in favour of a law to counter
extremism in the first reading. The law was passed
despite its clearly draft" nature and the views of
some parties that this law Clearly Chechnya is the
most sensitive issue for the Russian leadership. The
situation there may well be described as stagnation
or a cul-de-sac. The federal government is incapable
of establishing firm military and political control
over Chechnya; the armed opposition lacks the strength
to inflict a major defeat on the federal troops.
Temporary Friendship or Eternal Union?
 Obschaya
Gazeta, January 24, 2002
Our party has from the outset ultimately backed the
position expressed by President Vladimir Putin in
his television address to the nation on September
11, 2001, - solidarity with the US in the fight against
international terrorism, a course towards rapprochement
with the West and the establishment of a partnership
and preferably an alliance.
Alexei Arbatov on the proposal to punish
the relatives of terrorists
Ekho Moskvi radio
station, January 23, 2002
'Anchor: News from the Duma: the Duma has drafted
a law that has engendered many disputes...'
Russian political activist calls on
West to tell Russia whence terrorist money and arsenals
come
RIA Novosti, March 11, 2001
Russia looks forward to information
from the West about sources of weapon and money donations
to Central Asian and Chechen terrorists, Grigori Yavlinsky,
reformist Yabloko movement leader, says in a memorandum
to a Tripartite Commission conference in London.
Elena Bonner: Living a big lie in Putin's
new
The Sunday Times, February 18, 2001
Today total state terror seems
impossible, but we lived, and continue to live, in
a state of lies. The great lie calls Russia a democratic
state. The barely created election procedures were
violated during the elections in Chechnya, which took
place during the first Chechen war, and again in Yeltsin's
1996 election victory - which was decided largely
by money and not the will of the voters. Then came
the appointment of Putin as Yeltsin's heir, as if
Russia were a monarchy.
Anti-war Yavlinsky is Russia's real
patriot
The Russian Journal,
By Michael Heath,
January 17, 2000
To call for a halt to a hugely popular
war in the midst of an election campaign, as liberal
Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky did late last year,
would normally amount to political suicide.
Removing the bandits and saving our
own peoples' lives
Recent developments confirmed yet again
the correctness of our stance. Owing to negotiations
Gudermes was taken by our army without a single shot
of gun fire, followed by Akhchoi-Martan. In August-September
we discovered that if the local population supports
the Russian authorities and the actions of the military,
this leads to effective measures to overcome the bandits.
Six Conditions for Maskhadov
By Grigory Yavlinsky,
Chairman of the Yabloko Association, Obschaya Gazeta,
No. 45, November 11, 1999
Today the problem of Chechnya is the most difficult
one for Russia. This is primarily because here we
are confronted with a lethal threat to hundreds of
thousands of really unfortunate, innocent women, old
people and children, ordinary citizens of the Russian
Federation, Chechnians by birth who simply want to
live and work on their land.
Declaration of Grigory Yavlinsky, head
of the Yabloko faction in the State Duma on November
9 1999
The situation in Russia has become increasingly tense.
There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in the
Northern Caucasus; there is the threat of a wide-scale
partisan war in winter, an increase in civilian casualties,
and the provocation of conflicts between the military
and the civil leadership of the country owing to unclear
political prospects in Chechnya all this becomes a
serious factor behind political destabilisation.
Interview of Grigory Yavlinsky by Sergey
Dorenko
ORT channel, Interviewer
-Sergey Dorenko October 24, 1999
Yavlinsky: Our position can be summed up as follows:
today the requisite conditions have been established
for increased control over security in the Northern
Caucasus. We support the government's actions, with
respect to our troops's success in establishing control
over the heights (Ed. around Chechnya). We think that
our troops should consolidate their positions in the
heights.
Interview of Sergei Stepashin for the
programme "Geroi
Dnya" ("Hero of the Day") programme
NTV Programme, Interviewer - Svetlana
Sorokina, October 5, 1999
Stepashin: I think that, as far as I understand Vladimir
Putin, one of his main tasks was to enlist our support.
Let us be honest. For today we are involved in a full-scale
military operation in Chechnya. We call it a war against
terrorism, but it is absolutely clear that, when artillery
and aviation are employed and the troops have already
approached the Terek River, this certainly means war.
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