By Saipti Gelayev
The participation of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Chechen special purpose units “Vostok” and “Zapad”
in the armed conflict in South Ossetia caused a controversy in Chechnya
In Chechnya, it is believed that the official counts of Russian military losses during the fighting in South Ossetia have been greatly understated. In Chechnya alone, many bodies of killed soldiers have been delivered from the Intelligence Directorate special purpose battalions “Vostok” and “Zapad”, which consist of ethnic Chechens. The Ministry of Defense reports 74 soldiers killed altogether.
The Chechen special forces, though they prefer not to speak of losses suffered, express strong displeasure regarding their commanders. In the words of one “Vostok” soldier, they were “set up”.
“Our battalion was added to the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Southern Ossetia last fall. Before the beginning of these events (meaning the Georgian offensive into Tskhinvali), there were two companies of our battalion here.” said one of the “Vostok” servicemen, who called himself Vakhid, “Even though we were ready for possible provocation, a mass attack on Tskhinvali was nevertheless unanticipated.”
They practically set us up there. The turrets on the tanks given to us didn’t work; our armored vehicles broke down nearly every hundred meters. The Georgians, meanwhile, brought massive fire on our positions from “Grad” rocket launchers and long-range artillery, Georgian planes bombed us, and we, realistically, weren’t able to give them a serious response. Men were killed in our group, including our commander.”
“There (in Tskhinvali), it was real hell. Over the course of all of these days we weren’t able to communicate with our families, who naturally were very worried, because there was no way to reach us and we were unable to recharge our cell phones. My older brother broke through to us on the third day because there was information that we had all been killed. We were practically all on the brink of extermination, if not for the ‘Kadyrovsky’ regiment[1] , who came to our aid.” he said unexpectedly. “They stopped the Georgian attack and saved us from certain death.”
The Russian and Chechen authorities did not announce that, along with “Vostok”, there were other Chechen subdivisions sent to South Ossetia. Furthermore, there is little information about causalities; the only official reports are of three wounded “Vostok” soldiers in South Ossetia.
“Literally the day after the beginning of fighting in Tskhinvali, 100 men from a subdivision of the presidential security service were sent there from Khosi-Yurt (the home village of the Kadyrovs, also called Tsentroi). Naturally, no one will ever confirm this information,” a source from the president’s entourage told this journalist in a private conversation.
However, not all soldiers of the elite special purpose unit “Vostok” were ready to take part in the fighting, according to Vakhid. “Lots of guys, of course, didn’t want to go to war. After all, practically everyone in Chechnya knows what war is, if you’re seriously wounded – god forbid – they’ll just write you off. Who needs you other than your relatives? But we didn’t have a choice; we’re military men without free will. They’ve given the order and off we go! Those who didn’t want to go were warned that they’d be forced out of the army with a ‘wolf ticket’. In other words, your contract with the Defense Ministry is cancelled and you won’t receive any money (many are owed substantial sums for back pay). So the choice was the lesser of two evils – going to war, in our case.”
According to the latest information, the overall losses of the two special purpose units from Chechnya in South Ossetia number approximately 70 people.
“I can say with certainty that seven of our guys, who were killed in Southern Ossetia and returned to Urus-Martanovsky, had their throats cut.” said a resident of Urus Martan. “More likely than not, it was ex-militants who did it; they say that in the Georgian army there are Chechen subdivisions. Only they could have done this, possibly as revenge for the actions of ‘Vostok’ and ‘Zapad’ against them in Chechnya.”
In the opinion of many social activists and rights defenders in Chechnya, the deployment of military subdivisions formed on an ethnic basis to South Ossetia was a serious mistake by Russian leadership. Some are disposed to believe, however, that it was not done without forethought.
“To send ‘Chechen’ special forces into South Ossetia, I believe, was wrong.” said Chechen historian Murad Nashkhoev. “The Georgians, Ossetians, along with many other peoples of the Caucasus, are brother nations. People of the Caucasus shouldn’t take sides in such conflicts. We ought use all our means so as to not allow bloodshed, to reconcile the conflicting parties, and to in no way help one kill the other. After all, the Caucasus – it’s our common home.”
“We had a sad experience with ‘volunteers’ in Abkhazia during the war in 1992. At that time, the main hero of Abkhazia, and later in Chechnya, was Shamil Basayev, who later transformed into an international terrorist. Who can give a guarantee that a new ‘hero’ won’t appear today? They say that Sulim Yamadayev, who is on the federal wanted list, also fought in Tskhinvali. There could be Ulman there with his comrades, as well. Who will go to a war to arrest war criminals?” Eduard Ulman, together with other servicemen, was accused of killing civilians in Chechnya during the second Chechen war, but remains at large.
The commander of “Vostok” Sulim Yamadayev was added to the federal wanted list this summer after a conflict arose between him and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. According to the testimony of several journalists, he took part in battles in South Ossetia.
“For centuries, Russia has purposefully driven a wedge between the peoples of the Caucasus in order to bring to life the old imperial principle: ‘divide and conquer’,” said the director of “Memorial” in Grozny, Shakhman Akbulatov. “Moscow can turn the Ossetians and the Ingush on each other when needed, as it was in 1992. Moscow can also unfurl bloody conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and sow animosity between Chechens and Dagestani, like in 1999 (Basayev’s infamous campaign in the neighboring republic). It can also organize ‘Nord-Ost’ and Beslan, once again leading to the intolerance and hatred between peoples. I think that if there was not secretive and obvious interference by the Kremlin in all of these conflicts which occurred on the post-Soviet space, then the Georgians, Ossetians, Abkhazi, and Ingush, and all the other peoples of the Caucasus would live in peace and agreement.”
An expert on the North Caucasus at the Moscow Helsinki group, Aslambek Apayev, voiced a similar opinion. “I’ve read General Ermolov’s notes, and I remember the words he said to the so-called native police, which was created out of peoples of the Caucasus by the Russian command to use in conflicts with the locals. The General said that: ‘I have never had the use for this scum (i.e. the police force), but, having formed it, if there should be strife, it will be useful in the coming times.’ The very same principle is adhered to by the Russian authorities today, sending national and Cossack formations into the conflict zone. Moscow needs conflict between the peoples of the Caucasus, even today. I, like any normal person, hate any war, as it brings only death and despair to people, and I sympathize with all innocent civilians on the Ossetian side and the Georgian side.
The Russian military command thought highly of the fighting capabilities of Chechen special forces. In materials about the military actions by Russian forces in South Ossetia published last week in the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, an unidentified Russian Paratrooper General highly rated the fighting capabilities of soldiers of the “Chechen” battalions and admitted they were a head above any other Russian subdivision in the zone of conflict.
“For me it’s unimportant who killed who in South Ossetia, Georgians – Ossetians, Russians – Georgians, it was people killing people,” said another resident of the Republic. “The civilian population suffered: Ossetian and Georgian. Russia, who became involved in this conflict as a ‘peacekeeper’, really has no moral right. Let Putin remember what his army created here a few years ago. And to me it’s incomprehensible why the Russian leadership so furiously defends the right of Ossetian and Abkhazi independence, when at the same time they stripped the Chechens of this right. It is utter cynicism and a scoff at the norms of international law from Moscow. Chechens have no less right to freedom than Ossetians and Abkhazi, who naturally, like any other people on earth, have a right to self-determination.”
Saipti Gelayev, independent journalist in Grozny, Chechnya.
source: http://www.peaceinthecaucasus.org/articles/2008.08.18.chechen_forces_sossetia.html
Filed under: Russia vs Georgia
