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Russia’s president made a surprise visit to Dagestan, a day after 12 people were killed in a double suicide attack in the North Caucasus republic. Dmitry Medvedev called for “tough, severe and preventative” anti-terrorism tactics at talks with regional leaders. Funerals were held in Moscow for most of the 39 people killed on Monday when two suicide bombers blew themselves up on the city’s Metro. A rebel Chechen leader, Doku Umarov, has said he ordered the attack. Former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski is also a former co-chair of the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus. He gives Marco Werman his reaction to events in Russia this week.
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MARCO WERMAN: Zbigniew Brzezinski is a counselor and trustee at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He is also a former co-chair of the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus. He has this reaction to events in Russia this week,
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: First of all, the terrorist act is inexcusable under any set of circumstances, so that has to be stated very clearly at the outset. But beyond that, one has to ask whether that tragedy perhaps could have been avoided. I think that raises some serious questions regarding the policies that have been pursued towards the Chechens by the Russian government and especially by Mr. Putin himself. There were opportunities earlier on for perhaps some accommodation because initially the Chechen national movement was led by people who are reasonably realistic. In fact, the first leader was a former Soviet general. The next leader was even more moderate, Masaraf, was a former Soviet colonel. And they both wanted some form of accommodation with Russia which would, at the same time, recognize their national aspirations.
WERMAN: And who is to blame for those missed opportunities for engaging those two moderates as you call them?
BRZEZINSKI: Well unfortunately more the Russian side although obviously the Chechens who are not easy. And there was within the Chechen national movement, an extremist wing and that extremist wing became stronger and stronger as opportunities for some sort of a compromise solution evaporated.
WERMAN: Now President Obama has expressed sympathy for the victims of the bombings in Russia. Is there anything more that he White House should be doing or saying to Russia about how to deal with this issue?
BRZEZINSKI: Not publicly. It’s a terribly sensitive issue and especially now in the very charged atmosphere created by the atrocity in Moscow. But looking at it from afar, one has to be aware of the fact that the Chechens have also suffered and suffered much more because for the last 10 years they have been subjected to really brutal campaign in which no prisoners are taken and which people are kidnapped and murdered, very often tortured before being murdered by the Russian security- – . The military campaign against the guerillas has been extremely brutal. It is estimate that in the bombing and shelling of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, somewhere around 40,000 people probably were killed. So we’re dealing here with a genuine human tragedy for which there is no easy solution because by now, not on the Chechens, but some of the other people living in the Caucasus has become profoundly disaffected. It will take real statesmanship to deal with this problem.
WERMAN: Do you see a role for the U.S. in that statesmanship?
BRZEZINSKI: Not directly, no. I think that is something which would simply complicate the problem because I suspect the Russians would view it as one-sided external interference. Indirectly, simply by discussing the issue, I suppose the external world, including the United States, can raise the question whether an alternative approach might not be more productive in the long run. Just as the international community has raised questions, for example, regarding the American involvement in the war in Iraq or in Afghanistan.
WERMAN: Well maybe there is room for the U.S. to influence the Russian approach. If we look at some of the talk, especially from President Medvedev who is in the north Caucasus today about improving conditions, that might be a way he says, to take the wind out of the insurgent’s sails. Then we also hear Vladimir Putin saying the insurgents will be destroyed. Do you think there is some room here for the U.S. to somehow influence what’s going on?
BRZEZINSKI: Well, obviously as I said, informally and indirectly, yes. But if you’re asking me about some sort of formal position taken openly and thereby injecting the United States into the Russian-Chechen issue, I think the opportunities for that are quite limited. But for an indirect, expression of concern, yes I think so. Especially since there are examples in Russia of a more constructive arrangement, for example, Taterstan, which is a member of the Russian Federation, has a great deal of autonomy. In the early stages of the Russia-Chechen conflict, those of us who were concerned about promoting peace, even referred to Taterstan as perhaps some sort of a model for a different relationship between Russia and Chechnya.
WERMAN: How serious do you think the Russian government is about improving investment and infrastructure in the north Caucasus?
BRZEZINSKI: I assume it is to some extent serious, but I don’t think it is adequate because the Chechens are not dying in order to have let’s say five or ten or twenty percent improvement in their standard of living. They are consumed by a desire to be independent or maybe, as a constituent. But autonomous part of the Russian Federation, that has been their goal. And incidentally, that’s what’s new, that the reality of the last almost 150 years.
WERMAN: Doctor Zbigniew Brzezinski at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Thank you very much.
BRZEZINSKI: Good to talk to you, thank you so much.
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