The War AwardDue to the observance of a mourning period for the recent tragic events in Grozny, the final selection of candidates for the War Award competition was postponed to June 15. The organizing committee still continues to receive additional nominations.
Following is a recent example of two choices for the War Award and the reasons for it:
Tamara Kalayeva, human rights activist
"About 51-70% of Russian citizens who were in favor of the war are worthy of receiving this award. Putin, Yeltsin, Zhirinovsky, Rogozin, Budanov, Romanov, they’re all pseudo-patriots and pseudo-defenders of Russia’s interests, and actually led Russia to the inevitable collapse and chaos."
Lyoma Usmanov, historian and political scientist, California, USA
"During the course of a research project I once worked on, I was already searching then for the answer to this painful question, ‘Who is the main villain that convinced Boris Yeltsin to begin this bloodshed?’ For me, the main war criminal is Sergei Shakhrai. He was the man who convinced Yeltsin that Russia should start this war as it would be good in every respect and that all problems would be resolved ‘with one stroke’. Yet Yeltsin eventually turned against Shakhrai and pushed him out of politics. Nevertheless, my main reason for nominating him is because he actually instigated this immense slaughter.
All the others, including Putin, are just zealous pursuers who wish to continue this major bloodshed."
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The War Award competition, which was started by The Social Development Institute of Timur Aliyev on March 22, is essentially an “anti-prize” that will be awarded to either a politician or public figure who “contributed the most” to the onset and continuation of the war in the Chechen Republic (1994-2004).
This event is aimed at attracting the attention of the international and Russian community to the military actions in the Chechen Republic that have now been ongoing for 10 years. The organizers are accepting world-wide nominations from the public for two people, one Chechen and one non-Chechen.
The winners will receive an honorable certificate, a yearly subscription to The Chechen Society newspaper and an all-expense-paid three day trip to the Chechen Republic to visit the areas where military operations had taken place.
Nominations may be submitted to the organizer's e-mail address iorta@hotbox.ru; to the website of the Committee of Non-Governmental Organizations; or the editor’s offices of The Chechen Society and The Voice of the Chechen Republic.
The War Award Committee (iorta@hotbox.ru)
(S/E,T) RELATED ARTICLES:
· The announcement of the War Award (PW, 24.3. 2004)
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