CHECHNYA

INSIDE REBEL TERRITORY

 

16’41

June 2000

 

 

01:01

A Russian flag flies over the skeletal ruins of what once was Grozny...and a conquering soldier fires a volley into the air to celebrate.

 

Captured Chechen rebels who once seemed invincible adversaries...are now just defeated men...the losers that could not stop the onslaught  of the Russian war machine.

 

01:30

The civilians of  the broken capital  have also been humbled and they are silent now as they walk past their old masters they hoped would never return...although the anguish of  the city can still be heard.

 

02:00

These were the scenes of Russian triumph just three months ago, a seemingly crucial victory  that the Kremlin said would soon mean the end of  rebellion and the end of Chechnya's short lived and hard fought independence.

 

02:20

A promise to  crush Chechen separatism was the whirlwind  Vladimir  Putin     rode to sweep Russia's presidential election, declaring repeatedly that the Chechen “bandit problem “ would soon be over.

 

02:40

But his soldiers cannot go home. Chechnya is not pacified. Russian columns are routinely attacked, sometimes wiped out and Western intelligence agencies believe Russian casualty  figures are far higher than Moscow admits.

 

Although 90% of  Chechnya's territory now supposedly under tight Russian control--- a resistance movement  flourishes against the odds --- hidden  in village safehouses and guerrilla bases deep in the forests and mountains.

 

To bring you these images of  so called “ Free Chechnya” a three person team of  journalists was smuggled some five hundred miles through Russian territory. Assisting us was an array of Chechen partisans, professional smugglers and  bribed or sympathetic Russian soldiers.

We traveled by car, on foot, even horseback---slipping by Russian security forces every step at more than forty checkpoints.

 

We can’t show you the clandestine journey we undertook to reach rebel Chechnya. A condition of our trip was that the route remain secret. By definition this report offers a one sided perspective. Our journey itself is a crime under Russian law.   

 

This is 31 year old Turpal Ali, his name means the Warrior Ali---  an automatic pistol is always on his hip, he is on Moscow's most wanted list. His full official title is Minister for Counter-Intelligence and security. 

 

For him the war is far from over.

 

Turpal Ali Chechen Counter-Intelligence Minister

 

03:40

" I think the war will never end until Russia realizes that we have the same rights as other peoples for self-determination."

 

03:50

 Turpal moves constantly from safehouse to safehouse, for security reasons  it cannot be revealed where this one is located or even what it looks like outside. It is one of several where the Chechens hid our reporting team over a period of  four weeks. A Russian military base is only a couple of miles away which is why assault rifles and grenade launchers are close to hand.

 

04:00

This is home video footage filmed by Chechen partisans in  last three months when Turpal led a small Chechen unit into combat against the Russians. He claims his fighters killed forty enemy soldiers that day and  earlier described the tactics of ambush.

 

04:20

"We infiltrate un-noticed and seize key positions with small groups of men along their advance routes and lines of communication. When the Russians move… we hit them hard…so they suffer great losses in transit."

 

04:36

  Abu Said seen on the left heads Chechnya's largest civil rights group and Adam Mousayev on the right is the Chechen government's Development minister.

 

04:50

At great personal risk  they traveled together to speak to Nightline.  One of their companions was arrested on the way to this meeting. That alone is a measure of how desperate the Chechens are to convey their message.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABU SAID  Chechen Civil Rights Leader 

 

05:08

" Why is the whole world ignoring us? We are being wiped out. The entire Chechen nation is being exterminated. The Russians don't make war on our fighters, they make war on women and children."

 

Adam Mousayev  Chechen Development Minister TC

05:20

" I'd like to ask Clinton…recognizing America's tradition of defending the rights of nations throughout the world. Remembering Kosovo, remembering Iraq when America was the shield of human rights…can't he use his power to stop this genocide?"

 

Turpal echoes the same sentiments

 

Turpal Ali TC

05:45

"Whole villages are burned down. Innocent people are slaughtered. Women are raped. This is happenning in real time. Today. Now. When the world is talking about civilization and democracy."

 

05:58

In another safehouse the following morning a group of  Chechen fighters awaken in darkness to prepare for a pre-dawn march to their base.

 

The trek  will take them several miles along a rugged dirt track  through the forest…Russian mortars and artillery often shell this hidden path…Russian patrols can be on the prowl… but by first light the partisans safely reach the outskirts of their mountain stronghold.

 

Many wear green Islamic headbands to show they are Mujahadeen --- Muslim holy warriors.

 

The fighters are mostly young  men ranging from teenagers to those in their  early twenties.

 

Their  equipment  and weaponry  are all items captured from the Russians.

 

This guerrilla anti-tank gunner shouldering his RPG rocket launcher is only  sixteen.

 

06:44

But it is not only young men and boys who resist the Russian invader nor even just Chechens who fight back.  Natasha a 35 year old ethnic Russian and convert to Islam joined the insurgents after her husband was killed in Grozny.

 

 Natasha

07:00

" Many husbands and brothers died. Many Russian men and women have been defending their homeland…Chechnya. Now and in the future it will always be like this because this is our homeland too."

 

07:15

It's hard to immagine this gentle and soft spoken woman is a hardened fighter, but she  is as defiant as any veteran guerrilla.

 

 

Natasha :

"Its pointless trying to destroy us. What Russia wants it cannot have. We are made of steel. Steel melts then joins together again stronger than before. Chechens…we are like this,"

 

 

 

 

07:48

The closest Russians are only a mile and a half away but  45 year old Marsoud  the veteran bearded unit commander worries more about random shelling than meeting the enemy face to face.

 

 

Marsoud Chechen  Guerrilla Commander

 

" The Russians are not good soldiers. None of them know how to fight. But they have a lot of armor and hardware and they just keep shooting everywhere."

********

 There is hardly a fighter among Marsoud's troop who doesn't feel the loss of war.

 

Young  Fighter

 

" Me…Him …and him…He's lost his brother. We all come from the same place. There isn't a single person here who hasn't lost a relative, a friend, a brother or cousin."

08:18

A desire to avenge widespread allegations of  Russian atrocities motivates this young guerrilla.

 

Young fighter again

 

" Seventy women were taken away and released weeks later. When they came home we knew what they had done to them."

 

08:36

The determination of the young guerrillas to fight on is matched by a government forced to exist in the shadows.

 

Adam Mousayev chechen Development Minister

 

" Eighty percent of the cabinet is still intact and we will be with our President until the end. If we have to die we will die but we will not surrender our freedom."

 

(End segment 1)

 

(start Segment 2)

 

09:09

After last minute instructions to the detachment  left to guard the perimeter  Marsoud and the rest of his men move on to the main guerrilla camp a half mile away.

 

It is a small complex of  only partially bomb proof shelters and trenches carved from the earth. The sound of Russian reconaissance planes overhead is almost always heard.

 

Marsoud explains his camp is reasonably safe from Russian intrusion. He says his opponents are often afraid to be caught in the forest after dark.

 

09:49

Marsoud 

" The Russians only control where they are at any given moment. Where they park their tank that's what they control."

 

10:03

Two overflying  Russian fighter bombers force the fighters and this reporter to take shelter in the bunkers. It is not the last time we will take cover.

 

The danger over for now , two five man  teams prepare for patrol.

 

The scope is adjusted on a  sniper rifle…

 

Ammo pouches crammed with rifle clips are secured…

 

The aim on  rocket launchers is checked and a carrying strap adjusted…

 

A  few final  words…

 

And the partisans  set out  to do battle if they can find it…..

 

10:40

The partisans  are in a jovial mood and there are many smiles in camp today…the patrol did find the Russians…engaging a unit  of  reportedly 30 soldiers within earshot of the guerrilla base last night. The rebels claim two Russian dead and a score of wounded with no casualties of their own.  Living to fight another day is reason enough to celebrate.

 

So the camp cook  has stoked the fire in the adobe hut that serves as both mess and kitchen and there is a hearty stew to fill empty stomachs.

 

The great luxury is cup after cup of piping hot tea sweetened with cans of condensed milk.  And Marsoud is optimistic over the hit and run war his men are now waging.

 

11:20

Marsoud

" Before our losses were too high but now our combat casualties are minimal and we kill Russians…every day…everywhere."

 

A visiting teenage insurgent from another base cannot forget Grozny and he tells  his story disguised by  the darkness of the bomb shelter for fear of reprisal against his family.

 

11:44

 Young fighter

" To leave we had to open a path through a minefield by detonating the mines with our bodies. This is how we got out and hundreds died. Many others died from cold and hunger, some even shot themselves during the retreat not able to take it anymore."

 

 

 

12:05

Still it is a day of respite, a day when weapons usually held at the ready can be unshouldered,  a day away from the tensions of  war when blossoming flowers can still be beautiful though a Russian spotter plane drones above. 

 

12:25

One rebel finds the time for a quiet moment on horseback.   Another for some gymnastics.  Even when the cook spots a Russian jet  no one runs for cover, not today. Today is a day when violent death perhaps waiting just around the corner can be briefly forgotten.  The usual precautions overcome by the elation the guerrilla troop still feels after yesterday’s combat.

 

12;41

Marsoud  dons his Papaha, the traditional sheepskin hat of the Chechen warrior.  None is more cheerful than Arsan, one of Marsoud's  veteran deputies. He tells me he is proud his battle fatigues are American  made…(he shouts made in USA!)

 

13:06

They need mending and a female resistance member , whose face cannot be shown because she is a courier for the President, sows a button with great care as Arsan merrily shouts (Allah Akhbar!)…God is great.

 

13:23

In the cookhouse a gift is given by the guerrillas, the headband

Arsan has worn in battle since the first war, it's Arabic inscriptions have faded with the years and the 18 year old spiritual leader of the troop retraces them with a pen...it reads ""There is no god but god, god is great and I am a warrior of god."

 

13:42

A horse is hitched up to a wooden cart to take some of the guerrillas home on leave, except for it's small rubber wheels it seems a relic from antiquity, but the fighters are glad not to walk and glad to be going home.

 

13:59

As dusk falls, Saifullah, a young fighter whose name means sword of Allah leads the partisans. Another spy plane flies overhead to remind us this is a place of war but as the Mujahadeen bow in reverence towards Mecca singing birds mingle with the sounds of faith.

 

(end segment 2)   (Start Segment 3)

 

14:36

A nightime march on horseback through the Russian lines brought us here… another Guerrilla base reportedly only  a little over a mile from 6000 Russian soldiers to the north and South. Russian helicopter gunships overflew our group throughout the night as we marched alongside an artillery barrage but we arrived unharmed and unseen by the Russians. It is where we await  the rebel Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov ,  he became President three years ago after a democratic election both the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe  judged free and fair.

 

15:08

A couple of fighters head off into the woods to scout the area prior to the President's arrival.  Routine Russian shelling of this hideout has scarred the landscape. Soon a detachment of the Presidential Guard,  is deploying around the camp setting up a security cordon for Maskhadov.

 

15:28

Patiently, they keep a sharp eye on the various points of approach in silence--- weapons trained on any would be intruder. The President dressed in military fatigues and wearing a fur hat --- arrives as if appearing out of thin air.  Aware of the increased threat to his life by leaving his safe haven, he made the trip willingly. Sweating from the labors of his walk he parts his hair to make himself presentable for the camera. The one concession to Presidential decorum is an oriental carpet  to cover the log, he sits on.

 

Maskhadov believes western diplomacy has inadvertently helped to legitimize Russian agression, citing in particular Putin's visit  to Britain this past April.           .

 

Aslan Maskhadov  Chechen President

16:14

" After  Putin's meeting in London the war resumed with greater ferocity. Although the European Parliament , the UN and the OSCE have condemned Russia, Western governments are vacillating over Russia and still don't understand what the Russian army is doing here."

 

The embattled President is also pained that what he openly labels genocide is seemingly ignored in  western capitals..

 

16:44

Maskhadov

" The voice of human rights organizations unfortunately does not reach western leaders Including Britain and to my deep regret the United States."

 

Maskhadov who was chief of Staff of Chechen forces in the last war believes a prolonged guerrilla strategy  will lead to a hammer blow.

 

17:08

Maskhadov

" Our small units will exhaust the Russians for another six months or a year. The Russians will suffer great casualties and at the right moment our units will link up to deliver a punch that will mark the turning point in the war as it was the last time."

He says  Putin fails to grasp the inevitable.

 

 Maskhadov

17:28

" Putin should realize the truth…that it is an unwinable war, a war he has already lost. They will have to leave in shame and disgrace and he should come to the negotiating table to end it."

 

And the alternative?

 

17:46

Maskhadov

"Losing is not an option. If we lose this war we will be exterminated, we will be destroyed. This is why we must win and we will."

 

END 18:05

 

Chris Kline for Nightline Inside Rebel held Chechnya.