feature White Stockings and Black Widows women in —Myths and Realities

Sandra Torrijos/isis International Manila by Raven Healing

After the collapsed in tion of why there was such a Why would these women 1991. the Chechen Republic declared successful resistance in the identify more strongly with the independence. The Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya, than with the Russian Federation, which also grew out of and their cold-blooded and ruthless Federation? Why would they come to killing of Russian soldiers was so Chechnya to fight against the Russian the collapse of the USSR, sent troops odious that it was hoped the Russian military? Strong cultural differences to Chechnya to put down a separatist people would excuse the unethical exist between the people of the rebellion in 1994 and again in 1999. behavior of the Russian military. Ukraine and of Chechnya. The Russian forces are alleged to have Under the pressure of what was Ukrainians are of Christian back- committed violations of human rights increasingly a losing battle, the ground and the Ukrainian language is laws. The armed conflict continues. Russian govemment was reaching closely related to the Russian lan- for any way to distract the popula- guage. The Chechens are Muslim and White Stockings tion from its own military ineptitude. their language is part of a group of When talking about women in Most academics and reporters languages called the "Nokh" lan- Chechnya, it would be impossible to call the Stockings a myth because guages, which is a unique group of avoid these two words; White they say there is no real evidence of languages unrelated lo the Slavic Stockings. In , the words call Baltic women fighting for the languages. The people of the Ukraine to mind an image of a band of 10- Chechen resistance. This does not are considered "white" in the general fool-tall. vicious Baltic women mean there weren't any non- opinion of the Russian populace, running around Grozny with sniper Chechen women taking part in the while the Chechens are considered rifles slung over their shoulders, armed resistance in Chechnya. Many "black." ready to kill any Russian soldier for a accounts of Russian soldiers depict However, one Ukrainian woman small fee. During the Russian- the capture and execution of what who was fighting in Grozny during Chechen war of the early 199O's, they would call "White Stockings" or the explained that these "inhumans in skirts" became an just "female snipers" and often these her grandparents told her that when obsession for the Kremlin. The accounts describe the woman fighter there was famine in the Ukraine, the Stockings were part of the explana- as being Ukrainian. Chechens helped them. These acts of

off our backs page 44 march-april 2005 kindness from generations ago led of extreme hate and violence. In an she was a sniper and killed her in a fit some Ukrainians to feel it was their interview with a Polish reporter, one of rage during the interrogation. In duty to return the favor. This particu- Russian soldier told of his excitement the first of its kind trial of a Russian lar woman recognized that both the at being on the front lines and military man for crimes against Ukraine and Chechnya were on the potentially catching a "White Stock- civilians in Chechnya, Budanov receiving end of the ruthless brutality ing." He then recounted a quite pleaded temporary insanity. This of Russian imperialism. She re- gruesome story of the gang rape and claim was sufficient excuse for such marked that today the troubles were beating of a woman captured by his a brutal crime in the eyes of the in Chechnya, but tomorrow they may fellow soldiers. Russian court and Budanov was be in the Ukraine. Should the troubles Clearly, part of the appeal of the ordered to a psychiatric hospital return to the Ukraine, she hopes the White Stockings myth is to give the where he would be absolved of any Chechens would help her as they had soldiers a chance to act out the criminal responsibility. Only after helped her grandparents. sadistic degradation of a woman who intemational outcry did the Russian dares poach on a man's territory, that courts overturn the conviction and Justifying Violence of taking up arms, and for the call for a retrial. Under the watchful The focus placed on foreign soldiers to do so with official ap- eye of the intemational human rights women by the Kremlin's PR depart- proval. If the Russian soldiers catch community in July 2003, Russia ment, as opposed to the foreign men a Chechen rebel, they kill him. If they convicted Budanov to 10 years in a who surely came as well, perhaps catch a female sniper, they high security prison, still a relatively was simply for novelty; an idea that her. The very idea of a female sniper light sentence for rape and . would stick in the minds of Russian has become justification for wide- The violent abuses perpetrated citizens as a new fear: the fierce spread violence against women. by Russian soldiers are the daily experiences of women in Chechnya. female mercenary. But it served The most famous case is that of These women and their families live another purpose, perhaps intended, a Yuri Budanov who raped and in an area that has been so devastated purpose sexist in nature. Based on killed 18-year-old Elza"Kheda" by bombing that the capital city of interviews with Russian soldiers, it is Kungaeva in March of 2000. Her Grozny has been compared to evident that sniper women of any family says the drunk Colonel took Hiroshima. Families have lost not ethnicity have become both the Kheda from their home with no only their homes, but also their loved object of much intrigue and the target cause. The Colonel says he thought

Women stood before tanks in Achkoi-Martan and told the Russian commander that if he wanted to enter Chechnya, he would have to drive over their bodies first. The commander refused to enter Chechnya and was relieved of his position by the Russian Minister of Defense.

off our backs march-april 2005 page 45 ones. If the reftigees should ever with their children bumed, their their losses. Afrer a March 23, 2003, decide to come home, it would be husbands murdered, their fields full referendum vote, there was a sense impossible to survive without intema- of mines, these brave Chechen of excitement and relief within tional assistance because their fields women are forced to persevere in the Chechnya, but this soon faded. The have been peppered with landmines. face of adversity, in the midst of the referendum, when passed, secured Also, the Russian military has set up constant threat of rape and armihila- Chechnya as part of the Russian checkpoints along roads where tion. It is this adversity that drives federation but granted more indepen- Chechen civilians are refused the Chechen women to take up arms. dence for the republic. Putin ap- right to pass arbitrarily. At these Despite the fact that some pointed Shaykh Kadyrov as president checkpoints, women are taken into Chechen women choose to custody, where they are raped. Men fight with weapons, the vast are arrested as suspected terrorists majority do not take up arms with no evidence beyond blatant but are still a part of the The shakhid \Non]an racism. The soldiers jokingly say that resistance. In his book The the men are being taken "to the police Oath, Dr. Khassan Baiev sitting next to me station." This is their euphemism for tells of the important role a bullet to the head around the next Chechen women play in said her brother was comer. Villages are subject to sweep- hiding Russian soldiers who killed last year and up operations where the soldiers are defect and in getting the known to take young women into mothers of those soldiers to she lost her husband their amiored personnel carriers and come to Chechnya to collect the families never know if they will their sons, which is a six months ago. She see their daughters again. dangerous task on all sides. said "I have nothing He also tells how in Decem- Hero of Russia ber 1994 when the first left to lose, I have In an interview in June 2000, invasion by Russian troops nobody left. So I'll go Vladimir began, it was the women Shamanov rationalized the murder of who called for a peace all the way with this, innocent women and children in a march to stop the tanks from bombing in Alkhan-Iurt by stating advancing. The women even though I don't that the wives and children of bandits blocked the -Baku think it's the right were also bandits. When confronted highway for 40 miles from with the lack of morality in his Grozny to Ingushetiya by thing to do." stance, he fell back on the "female performing an ancient Sufi sniper" excuse to defend his position. zikr dance. Women stood He avoided any logical ethical discus- before tanks in Achkoi- sion and instead asked, "how can you Martan and told the Russian com- of Moscow's puppet administration tell someone's wife from a woman mander that if he wanted to enter in Chechnya. Russia told the sniper?" The Kremlin seems to be Chechnya, he would have to drive Chechen people that those men who perfectly okay with Shamanov's over their bodies first. The com- had been kidnapped during sweep-up logic; Boris Yeltsin once awarded him mander refused to enter Chechnya operations would be retumed to them the "Hero of Russia" medal. With the and was relieved of his position by if the referendum were passed. This Russian army being commanded by the Russian Minister of Defense. tumed out to be false. In June of the "insane" like Budanov and According to Kassuma same year after the referendum Shamanov, the situation in Chechnya Maskhadov, wife of Asian passed, six men were taken in looks less like a war and more like Maskhadov,* Chechen women have sweep-up operations in the town of genocide. been conducting meetings and Gikalo. For more than two days, With no food, no medical care, organizing demonstrations despite all over 200 women blocked a major off our baclcs page 46 march-april 2005 highway connecting the capital city the widespread rape that happened in strong police presence stopping of Grozny with the city of Argun, Chechnya. He remarked that these ordinary citizens at checkpoints demanding the return of their loved women were avenging their dead regularly. Even the U.S. State ones. They held signs stating clearly parents, brothers, husbands and Department denounced the election. what was a growing sentiment in avenging their own shame. He said Under Kadyrov's presidency, all Chechnya: The Referendum Has he couldn't talk about the things the attempts were made to make the Become Hell For Us. have done to these Chechen world believe that peace was return- Two months after the vote for women. The situation in Chechnya ing to Chechnya and that there was the referendum, Shakhidat seemed to reach a level of despair, no longer human rights abuses Baymuradova, a female Chechen where women would strap bombs to occurring in Chechnya. However, air fighter who lost her husband in 1999, themselves and end their own lives in raids continued in Chechnya and also strapped a bomb to her waist and a final attempt at revenge, even began to strike neighboring blew herself up at a Muslim festival though suicide is not a notion Ingushetiya. Continuing the legacy of in an attempt to kill pro-Moscow accepted either in Chechen culture or western indifference to the suffering officials. She did not succeed in in Islam. of Chechen women and children, killing her targets; rather, she killed none of these atrocities were re- 16 others. Her first name means Western Indifference ported. Kadyrov was assassinated in "martyrdom" and the long string of It was in this environment of May 2004, finally putting Chechnya female suicide bombers have been utter despair that the presidential in The New York Times for one day. called the "shakhid movement," elections of October 2003 took place. Unfortunately, the article focused though the Russians call them the These elections seemed to be another only on that one incident of violence Black Widows. chance for the people of Chechnya to in Chechnya and not on the suffering The shakhid movement started begin self-governing, but it, too, that Chechen women have endured around the time of the Nord-Ost turned into a fiasco, a slap in the face every day for so long. hostage siege in October 2002 and of the Chechen people. By all ac- Each day the war continues, so gained momentum after the disillu- counts, the election was unfair. Four does the endless injustice to the siormient settled in post-referendum front running candidates dropped out women. Hopefully, the international Chechnya. A survivor of the Nord- of the elections, either from pressure community will not be fooled by Ost hostage taking, where over 100 from the Kremlin, or like the highest- Russia's sexist public relation tricks people were killed not by the ranking candidate in the polls, Ruslan and will recognize the existence of Chechen hostage-takers, but by an Khasbulatov, because there were "no the crimes against humanity and the experimental neuro-toxic gas used by conditions for an honest election in crimes against the women. And let's the "liberating" forces of the Russian Chechnya." This left Kadyrov, also have hope that this recognition government, gave a statement Moscow's main candidate, effec- can somehow bring these violations regarding her conversations with one tively without competition. to an Black Widow: More than 30,000 troops that "The shakhid woman sitting next were stationed in Chechnya were * Asian Maskhadov was previously to me said her brother was killed last allowed to vote. The refugees in elected as president of Chechnya, year and she lost her husband six neighboring Ingushetiya did not get and many Chechens still consider months ago. She said 'I have nothing to vote. According to a reporter for him the "real" Chechen president. left to lose, I have nobody left. So I'll the Guardian, on October 1, just four go all the way with this, even though days before the election, the citizens ' Weir, John. "Chechen Women Join I don't think it's the right thing to were afraid to speak about the Terrors Ranks." Christian Science do.'"' elections and people were being Monitor, June 12, 2003. When asked about his position beaten and shot by either the soldiers, on the shakhid movement, a middle- the gang-like police force, or the The author is a member of the ranking commander in the Chechen 4,000-strong army popularly referred Chechnya Advocacy Network, resistance. Amir Idris, talked about to as "Kadyrov's Men." There was a www.chechnyaadvocacy.org. off our backs ___^_^_ march-april 2005 page 47