Russian forces use extensive brutality in Chechnya, hiding behind the smokescreen of the international war against terrorism. The second Chechen war, she argued, is very cynical. It has been going on for four and a half years, longer than the Second World War in Russia. More than a million soldiers have been through the war on a rotational basis. Importantly, there is no idea or specific goal in the second war.

The war is concentrated around the civilian population, and its main facet is the zachistka or mopping up operations. A Zachistka is a large scale military operation, where forces of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Chief Military Intelligence Agency (GRU) encircle an area accompanied by the usage of heavy artillery and armored vehicles. A Zachistka is conducted in the following manner: the village, usually with more than 20,000 inhabitants, is blocked, and nobody has a right to move from house to a house. Sometimes a zachistka can last for three weeks. Then the whole male population is taken to open areas, e.g. fields, where they are beaten while checking their documents. Later some are let go, but some stay, never to be seen again. Russian forces consider as male population any male from 10-11 years old up to 88 years. Russian forces usually explain the disappearances of the people with them being from the resistance. It is impossible to grasp the logic in this extermination, as rows of extrajudicial executions have been reported.

One of the biggest problems in the second Chechen war is kidnappings. Three thousand people are proved to be missing. These are only those, whose relatives were able to present undeniable evidence.

Ms. Politkovskaya provided the example of an event on 29 February 2004, when four bodies were found in the forest and brought to the local mosque in a village in Chechnya. They were found in a pit, in an areas where previously the military division Don-2 of the Ministry of Interior had been stationed. It is believed that they were questioned by servicemen from that division, and were not seen later. The only chance to find or to get any news about missing relatives is by checking the photographs of the dead bodies that are usually hung in the central market in Grozny. This activity is arranged by the people who lost any hope to get exhumation results from the experts. Relatives search their relatives by the clothing, since when soldiers kill a person, they often just take off their clothes and hang next to the body.

In 2003 alone, Ms. Politkovskaya told the audience, Russia evidenced ten terrorist attacks on its territory. The majority of these acts were carried out by Chechens who lost their family members in the war, people who just disappeared after zachistka. In March 2004, the Murids of Gazavat claimed responsibility for the latest terrorist act in the Moscow metro of 6 February 2004. They said they are taking revenge for the events in the village Aldy. This goes back to 4-6 February 2001, when federal forces entered the village of Novye Aldy and carried out what can only be described as a bloodbath, during which 55 people were killed. The Murids of Gazavat said “it is our answer for the non-avenged, we were waiting for a long time, and we cannot wait any more”.

“The second Chechen war”, Ms. Politkovskaya stated, “has started acquiring all the features of the Palestinian conflict. We [Russians], by our own hands molded this ‘palestinized’ war. Until now, the Russian government does not want to acknowledge its mistakes in the Chechen war. Thus we created a situation where one side pictures Chechens who carried out blasts as heroes, and others, mainly the Russian government, pictures them as terrorists. Unfortunately, the Nord Ost tragedy did not teach Russian government a lesson. THe example of this is the appointment of Ahmad Kadyrov as leader of Chechnya. Kadyrov is a very ruthless man, and a puppet of the Kremlin. As civilian Chechens say, “only federals can be worse than the kadyrovtsy (Kadyrov’s people).”

War is a self-evolving business, Ms. Politkovskaya concluded. Military men are interested in the oil business and the weapons trade. The present war in Chechnya is now called a war against terrorism, since in the aftermath of the September 11 events, this turned out to serve Russian interests best. The following conclusions, according to Ms. Politkovskaya, could be drawn from the war:

- Russian society came into agreement with the state initiated terrorism; - Extrajudicial executions carried out by the state led to a system of terrorism; - Putin is pictured as a hero, who is fighting international terrorism; - There is no discussion and questioning of Putin’s actions at the societal level.