CHECHNYA LINKS LIBRARY

Chechnya after the Duma by-election

Over the past few months, the intensity of military operations in Chechnya has reportedly subsided somewhat. Federal forces continue to subject suspected enemy positions to artillery and air bombardment and to conduct so-called "mopping-up" operations, sealing off individual villages and checking the identity of the population in an attempt to identify members of, and sympathizers with, the forces subordinate to the various field commanders.

The Chechen fighters, for their part, have resorted to classic guerrilla tactics, staging hit-and-run attacks on Russian positions, and planting landmines and remote-controlled bombs. Increasingly, not only the Russian military but also representatives of the pro-Russian Chechen administration and clergy are being targeted in those attacks, which increased in frequency in the runup to the 20 August election of a deputy to represent the republic in the Russian State Duma.

Many observers viewed that ballot as essentially a two-horse race in which only two of the thirteen candidates -- the former second secretary of the Checheno-Ingush Oblast Committee of the CPSU, Lecha Magomadov, who now heads the Chechen branch of the pro-Kremlin Unity Party, and Gudermes mayor Malika Gezimieva -- stood any chance of success (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 33, 17 August 2000). In the event, a former Russian Interior Ministry major-general, Aslanbek Aslakhanov, won with 27.5 percent of the vote, 5 percent more than his closest rival Adam Deniev, who heads the Moscow-based Adamalla movement. Opinions vary as to the fairness and validity of the vote.

But observers agree that Aslakhanov could not have won without Moscow's backing, noting that most other candidates had written into their election platforms a demand that Moscow pay financial compensation to the Chechen victims of the war. As that a category includes virtually the entire Chechen population, the sums involved would have been phenomenal.

Aslakhanov, who has a doctorate in law, made his career within the USSR Interior Ministry, serving inter alia with the transport police on the legendary Baikal-Amur Railway. He was a member of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin's election campaign staff in 1991, and served as chairman of the Supreme Council Committee on Fighting Crime that was dissolved in 1993. Although he made clear his opposition to former Chechen President Djokhar Dudaev, Aslakhanov never joined the armed opposition to him.

Aslakhanov has listed as his top priority negotiating a political settlement of the conflict that would leave Chechnya a constituent part of the Russian Federation. He has further expressed his willingness to meet with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov for talks on ending the fighting, adding that Maskhadov had contacted him but that they had not managed to meet. (At a meeting on 29 August, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Aslakhanov that he does not consider talks with Maskhadov appropriate, arguing that the Chechen President is a mere figurehead.) Aslakhanov has further stressed the need to "restore the morale" of the Russian troops currently deployed there to bring an end to "marauding and the murder of innocent civilians."

Aslakhanov's victory was welcomed by Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov, whom President Putin had named in June to head the Chechen interim administration. "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 23 August that the two men had already met several times, and that Aslakhanov had expressed support for Kadyrov's efforts to restore peace to Chechnya. Interfax similarly quoted Aslakhanov as telling a press conference in Moscow on 30 August that he is ready to cooperate with Kadyrov and "with any person who will use his God-given qualities to stabilize the situation in Chechnya." But at the same time Aslakhanov highlighted a potential obstacle to cooperation with Kadyrov, warning that "if posts are distributed according to the clan principle, we shall be on different sides of the barricade."

For the moment, however, both Kadyrov and Moscow appear to view Aslakhanov's election as a stabilizing factor. Kadyrov said it will create conditions for holding elections for a new Chechen leader in one year's time. Prior to Kadyrov's appointment as interim administration head, it was widely held that his term of office under what was seen as presidential rule from Moscow would last from between 18 months and three years.

At their 29 August meeting, Putin asked Aslakhanov to draft proposals for "normalizing" the situation in Chechnya, which are to be submitted to the Russian presidential administration. It is unclear, however, what approach Aslakhanov could suggest that would stand a chance of success, and has not already been vetoed by the Kremlin.

Copyright (c) 2000. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org