Russia vows to destroy Chechen rebels (Russia Alert - They are bloody mad can you blame them)

Reuters UK ^ | Sun 8 February, 2004 21:48 | By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent

[gdyniawitawa]

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Russia's defence minister says there is a clear connection between Chechen militants and al Qaeda and has vowed that Moscow would "calmly and systematically" wipe out the rebels.

Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday Russia would never negotiate with the Chechen separatists it blames for a bomb attack on the Moscow metro that killed at least 39 people on Friday.

"Whoever hopes we will start negotiations, let them go and start negotiating with Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar," Ivanov said, referring to the al Qaeda and Taliban leaders.

"We will not negotiate. We will destroy these people calmly and systematically," he told a news conference in Munich.

Ivanov said investigations had not yet determined whether there was a foreign or al Qaeda connection behind the Friday morning rush-hour bomb on the Moscow underground.

But he said operational and financial links between Chechen separatists and bin Laden's network had clearly been demonstrated.

"The connection of these terrorists with the Taliban and al Qaeda has long ago been proved," he said.

Fugitive Chechen separatist leader, Aslan Maskhadov, has denied he was involved in the blast and called for talks.

Maskhadov, ex-president of the rebel region, has little or no control over extremist rebels led by warlord Shamil Basayev.

Ivanov expanded on comments to the Munich Security Conference on Saturday in which he said some foreign fighters were still active in Chechnya.

He said Russian 'spetsnaz' commandos were killing several foreigners a month, and regularly encountering Turks.

"The last Turkish citizen who was killed with a gun in his hand this week in Chechnya had previously, according to his passport, visited Pakistan as a 'tourist', and our experts believe it's clear he had been in a terrorist training camp in Pakistan," Ivanov said.

He said the Turk had then entered Chechnya illegally via Georgia. Many ethnic Chechens live in Turkey.

Russia has backed the United States in its war on terror since the September 11 attacks in 2001, and has consistently depicted its struggle with Chechen militants as part of the same global battle.

It has used this to justify its military operations in Chechnya, where it has fought two wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union, despite frequent criticism from human rights groups.

Ivanov said the type of militants active in Chechnya were also to blame for attacks much further afield.

"These people, if you can call them human, move about the world and carry out similar actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Russia and Turkey," he said.

[zinochka]

Will the 10,000 blood sacrifice on high holy day commense again?

Even if there actually was such a thing as "Warriors of Aztlan" it probably would not. No one believes in sacrificed hearts to Tezcatlipoca any more. Because it is'nt the 15th century any more in Mexico.


Sick pagan religion, only Islam is bloodier

That's because it is still the 15th century for Wahhabist Islam!

[RussianConservative]

That's because it is still the 15th century for Wahhabist Islam!

I am sorry but must disagree with you...it's the 7th Century they stuck in.

[david_the_positive]

I dunno, Chechnya was invaded by the Russian Empire. Perhaps if they got out of there earlier the slamic dimension may not have entered in. Right now, the Russians are foreigners rulign over Chechnya. This isn't any different from the Russians ruling over the Baltic states. The Chechens aren't Russian.

Dear Chronos.

i try to observe rather than raspond, but your chechen story seems to echo so many bad memories that i want to stop on it for a minute.

Do you know the saying: "if you goto a zoo and see a cage labeled tiger and you see an elephant in it - do not believe your eyes"

In Chechnya many people lived through a war, and got to test the idea that a "chechen government" is better than "russian occupation".

Our media, in my opinion went to Chechnya with a preconceived story, as opposed to a see and tell approach.

There was a Russian Duma study that said that in Grozny rallies, where supporters dropped notes into a basket were later called nationwide elections.
Is this true?
Gosduma, a mouthpiece like US congress, said it was. If reporters were in Chechnya to do more than put a Grozny postal stamp on their london/ny/moscow story perhaps they would of checked it and reported to us whether its true or not.

If you believe the reporters covering chechnyan story you may of missed that chechen forces were fighting on both sides of the conflict. Let alone that there was a civil war before Russian soldiers went in Christmas Day 1994.

Chechen militants were mutilating Russian prisoners of war, of which there is video and photo proof. Did it get any coverage? What about the stories of "Russian ethnic cleansing." The latter stories went to press without any sort of checks apparently, as those that were checked were found to be hoaxes or too ambiguous to tell.

I encourage you to refer me to a well documented story of russian cleansing.

[Cronos]

Dear David,

My post merely said that the Chechens were invaded by the Russian Empire (the Tsarist Empire), in the same way that they conquered the Baltic states. That was the Empire building period and conquest happened.

My next point was that the Chechens are not ethnically Russian and that's true enough.

I did not in any way accuse or even suggest that the Russians carried out any form of "cleansing".

[david_the_positive]

Hi Cronos.

You are right on my reply - to a large part it was responding to my view of our media, and not your points.

-David