The Russia regime is not its own beast but a parasite that can only exist on the suffering of those it chooses to designate and enemy in the hope of an easy victory that would bolster the domestic chauvinistic fervour that allows people to overlook the utter destitution of the country led by unashamed kleptocrats.
Not a new development, but one that was widely practised in the years of the Soviet Union and continued to modernity, it saw the more vulnerable people within the Russian led state and those around it fall victim to this tactic of domestic deflection.
In the 1990s, Chechnya, then a nation in its early years of state formation after Russian imperial and Soviet occupation, fell victim to the Kremlin’s need for a short and victorious war when faced by electoral uncertainty for Yeltsin. Lasting two years and with casualties among civilians at least in the tens of thousands, Russia settled for a peace. But in a long standing tradition, a Russian peace is made to be broken, this time for a popularity bump for Putin.
Speaking at a Henry Jackson Society event on the Chechen Republic, journalist and author David Satter said: “The positon of Chechnya, as a small country, has been to be used by the Russians in order to reinforce a system which actually enslaves the Russian population in itself, because the people who are put in power as a result of acts of terror against their own people are, in effect, the enemies of their own people”.
Faced with another electoral dilemma, Russia annexed Crima in 2014 and set itself up for future conflict by sponsoring the war in eastern Ukraine, providing cash, troops, weapons and propaganda. Eight years later, Putin took advantage once more and the February invasion begad.
Commenting on Russian motives, Satter said: “The unprovoked and demented attack on Ukraine, justified by the most unbelievable explanations that have no connection to reality, but have everything to do with the desire of the regime is Russia to maintain its power.”
Looking to tarnish those Russia colonised, the Moscow regime has been working hard to ensure a continuous drip of cash infused fanatical support. Chechnya was no exception with the corrupt Russian puppet, Ramzan Kadyrov, ensuring a loyal populace through Russia’s usual tricks of rigged elections, propaganda and an all enveloping messages of despair and futility.
Presented as Putin’s rabid enforcers, the Chechens were used by the Kremlin to quash the protests in Russia and to occupy Ukraine. However, the Chechens in opposition to Putin have not been idle and are working to reverse the negative perception which has been so carefully crafted for them by the Kremlin.
Akhmed Zakaev, the leader of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria said at the event: “Chechens have been involved in this war on the side of Ukraine since 2014. Putin, during Russia’s large-scale invasion, drew the so-called Kadyrovtsy into the ranks of the Russian occupiers. This decision was made with the aim of bringing hate between the Chechens and Ukrainians, but thanks to the wisdom of the Ukrainian people and the correct action of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria’s government in exile, Putin failed to achieve this goal.”
Reflecting on the plight of his people, Zakaev sees western negligence as the cause of the wars in his homeland.
“The world did not object and did not condemn Russia but clinically called the murder of the Chechen people – internal affairs of the Russian Federation.”
“I am deeply convinced that the economic affairs of certain countries and political interests of certain politicians should not be more important than the fate of entire people. I am also sure that a lack of an adequate reaction of the Western whole world to the Chechen tragedy is the main reason why Russia poses a threat to the whole world today.”
Nevertheless, emboldened by the Ukrainian recognition of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as an occupied territory by the Russians, on 18th October, and by the recognition of the genocide of the Chechen people, together with the progress made by the Ukrainian military on the front lines, which includes volunteer battalions of Chechens from all across the world, Zakaev quoted the first president of the Chechen Republic, Dzhokhar Dudayev. He said: “When the sun of freedom will rise in Ukraine, the end of the Russian empire will come.”
With the West becoming ever more pliable and susceptible to manipulation through threats to the tentative accords that hold its economic and political power base, especially in light of the pathetic response to the death of 2 people in Poland – a NATO state – and the comparative strides in democratic furtherment by Ukraine in the recognition of Chechnya, it is hard to argue with Akhmed Zakaev when he said “In fact, today, in connection with the war in Ukraine, the world is being reorganised. Ukraine has become the leader of the Free world”