MOSCOW’S PLANS FOR CHECHNYA: “COERCIVE PEACE.”

An unnamedsenior Russian commander in Chechnya told Interfax May 25 that Moscow’sfuture strategy in the region would combine surgical military strikes in the field, and diplomatically “acceptable” proposals at the negotiating table. To date, Russian military attacks have been anything but precise and have led to massive civilian casualties, and to Russian commanders generally saying that the only acceptable end to the fighting would be the unconditional surrender of the Chechens. That is unlikely anytime soon. Speaking the same day and to the same Interfax correspondent, Col. Gen. Mikhail Yegorov said that the Chechens are now using tanks and missiles against Russian forces. On May 24, Segodnya reported that the Moscow Center for Comparative Social Research had released a study showing that the Chechen drive for independence predates the independence of the Russian Federation, a conclusion that undermines Moscow’s claims that Chechnya is trying to secede from Russia.

Soldiers’ Mothers Protest Chechen War.