Dr. Alexandr Nemets
Saturday, Nov. 2, 2002

Zyuganov's Appeal

On Oct. 24, Communist newspaper Pravda published "Appeal to the People," signed by Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov. Some phrases are of particular interest: "Terror is marching over Russia, over Moscow. Governor of Magadan region Tsvetkov is killed on Moscow streets. Explosive-filled car exploded near McDonald's in southern part of the city. No need to mention several downed helicopters and a spacecraft exploded at launch site. Russia is sinking in crime, terror and chaos. Kremlin loses control over the situation. …"

The article was signed on Oct. 23, just several hours before the hostage-taking at the "Nord-Ost" musical. Maybe Gennady Aleksandrych uses a crystal ball?

The War Came to Moscow

No need to repeat the known details, mostly produced by Russian official sources. Let's look at some other items, which the officials would prefer to hide.

These data are extracted from all sorts of Moscow media, during the Oct. 24-31 period.

1) By the evening of Oct. 31, the official total of dead hostages had reached 119, two killed by terrorists and 117 by the FSB-subordinated Alpha special detachment.

The actual number of hostages killed – including those "lost without a trace" – approached 200. At least 80 corpses merely vanished. The "hostage salvation operation" became a hostage extermination operation.

It looks like someone gave a strict order: "The total number of dead hostages should not surpass 120" – and the official number won't surpass this total. This is necessary for "keeping the image" of Putin's regime as well as for saving money (it has been announced that the family of each perished hostage will get 100,000 rubles, or $3,000).

This is reminiscent of the events of October 1993, when the official number of those murdered during the bloody suppression of the anti-Yeltsin uprising appeared to be "merely" 148, while the actual number approached 1,500. For three days Moscow crematoriums worked around the clock. What happened to the missing bodies of the Dubrovka theater hostages?

2) From the very beginning, Alpha group had only one task: to kill all the Chechens without losing even one officer. The number of killed hostages was of low priority if it was a priority at all. This predetermined the choice of "work tool": highly-poisonous gas "took out" both terrorists and hostages. Each terrorist was shot in the heart – maybe to leave no witnesses.

Hostages were pulled out and dumped on the cold ground. About 200 of them died due to the absence of antidote, but who cares? The Russian population decreases at the rate of 2,500 per day. Human life is of very small value in this unfortunate country.

And who is more cruel and lawless: Chechen terrorists or Russian special services?

3) A group of 50 Chechen terrorists went to Moscow, obtained all the necessary weapons and explosives and without any problems reached the theater and accomplished the terror action. That's despite the fact that the very same day, Oct. 23, "upgraded security" was introduced in Moscow and several thousands of soldiers, police officers and FSB agents entered the city streets.

Moscow media give following explanation:

• The mighty Chechen diaspora in Moscow – generally, hating the Kremlin (and, by the way, having very strong grounds for it) – provided the necessary logistics service.

• The Russian official structures, including police and the FSB, are extremely corrupted. Money softened the vigilance of security officers.

• The armed human doesn't attract special attention in Moscow's streets; there are plenty of them, uniformed and non-uniformed, in camouflage and masks or without. It is hard to understand with whom you are dealing: Chechen terrorist, legal officer or, say, peaceful and law-abiding racketeer or professional killer in perfect relations with the Moscow mayor's office and in even better relations with FSB.

"Polnyi bespredel" (total absence of law and order), as they say in Russia.

War in Chechnya and Global Anti-terrorism Crusade Related Consequences

On Oct. 24-25, Moscow's "mainstream media" provided the following facts, figures and conclusions:

• According to Germany General Staff estimates (reprinted by some German magazines), between September 1999 and October 2002, the number of civilians murdered in Chechnya reached 80,000; the number of Russian servicemen killed during the same period exceeded 10,000; presently, 80,000 servicemen, belonging to the Russian army and Interior Ministry, cannot take over 2,000-2,500 Chechen guerrillas.

• Now it is evident to everybody that Moscow's policy in Chechnya eventually failed. Evacuation of Russian troops from Chechnya – and that's what the terrorist group demanded – is the only way to solve the problem.

• According to blitz-polls, more than a half of Muscovites desire an end to the war in Chechnya immediately.

• These Chechen terrorists are drastically different from all other terrorists the world has dealt with: They don't want money, freedom for their comrades in jail or aircraft for transporting them to some remote point. What they want is only peace for their country (by the way, the author is inclined to agree with this thesis).

Remarkably, some Moscow papers – definitely voicing the Kremlin's intentions – produced another point of view:

"The hostage-taking incident resulted in further rapprochement of Russia and America. Now Washington sees that the two countries are really fighting world terrorism together. … And now it would be easier to reach a 'U.S. strike in Iraq in exchange for a Russian strike at Georgia' compromise" – that was written in the pro-Kremlin Nezavisimaya Gazeta paper on Oct. 28. Hopefully, the U.S. government will recognize this trap and avoid it.

One more dangerous thesis, which became popular during the last several days in the media of Moscow, Israel and some U.S.-based Russian-language papers: "Islam is a terror-oriented religion. The civilized world – including Russia – should fight the Muslims."

This, particularly, means that America and its close allies (to which Russia, evidently, doesn't belong) should fight the very moderate Muslims of the Turk-language group and lose all the positions in the Trans-Caucasus region and Central Asia. That's what they are dreaming about in Moscow.

Read Part II.

Dr. Alexandr V. Nemets is co-author of "Chinese-Russian Military Relations, Fate of Taiwan and New Geopolitics."

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