Moscow's Murder of Mashkadov

Topic: Chechnya/Russia

Moscow has committed a grievous error by murdering Aslan Maskhadov, the legitimate President of Chechnya. Not only was this man elected in a free election that was recognized by the west, but he continued to champion peace - most recently by decreeing a month long cease-fire during February. Only days before his death Maskhadov was again requesting peace talks with Moscow. As always, those requests fell on deaf ears.

It is an outrage to me that Moscow has been able to get away with the oppression of the Chechen people for so long now. This is a place where kidnappings, executions and rapes are common place for no other reason then belonging to an ethnicity long demonized by the Russian elite. Putin picked up the mantle of Stalin when he re-initiated the war in the Chechen Republic, a war fought to demoralize and de-legitimize the existence of a free Chechen Republic. And who has suffered for Putin's heavy handed brutality? The civilians of Chechnya and the soldiers of the Russian army and their families. Let us not forget that Chechnya has been more costly to the Russian Army than Afghanistan was. With the elimination of a legitimate leader, this will only serve the strengthen the small but growing number of radical Islamic militants in the area.

If the west is such a champion for human rights, where have they been the past ten years?

My sincere condolences to the Chechen people on the loss of their President. My condolences also to the mothers of the Russian soldiers whose lives have been lost in this miserable conflict. I pray that somehow peace will be found, but a peace where the Chechen people may live freely and not in fear for their lives.