FORUM

Between Budennovsk and Beslan

Zaindi Choltaev and Michaela Pohl

Abstract: This article discusses the hostage tragedy in Beslan (North Ossetia) and its connection to Russia’s war in Chechnya and to Vladimir Putin’s do- mestic policies. The authors argue that Russia is embracing the war on terror, but Russia’s leaders are not really interested in putting an end to the terror. They have not made an effort to find out or tell the truth about its causes, to fight the all-pervasive corruption that is an important factor in all of the lat- est major attacks, nor to find convincing social and political solutions in Chechnya. The current initiatives leave society with lies and terromania and strengthen those who profit from a continuation of the war on terror and the war in Chechnya. Keywords: Beslan (North Ossetia), Chechen-Russian conflict, Chechnya, Vladimir Putin, Russia

Statements to the effect that Beslan “became a 300,000) is as if in France one were faced with day of reckoning, which henceforth will di- a range of 6 to 20 million corpses (Glucks- vide the country’s modern history into ‘before mann 2003). The emphasis on Beslan as an ex- Beslan’ and ‘after Beslan’” (Kots 2004), or that traordinarily shocking event also shrouds its it was a ‘cataclysmic event’, comparable only connection to a long string of acts of terror in to September 11 or the collapse of the Soviet Russia, which have taken more than a thou- Union (Straus 2004), obscure one of the most sand lives since Shamil Basaev’s seizure of a devastating episodes in Europe’s recent his- hospital in Budennovsk in 1995. President tory: the war in Chechnya.1 This conflict has Putin told the nation that it is “dealing with lasted longer than any other war in Europe in the direct intervention of international terror the twentieth century (1994–6, 1999–present). against Russia, with total and full-scale war”, It has turned the Chechen capital, Grozny, but the roots of terror in Russia are not inter- into a bizarre landscape of ruins the sight of national. And indeed, Putin’s political initia- which shocked even Putin, who ordered the tives since Beslan continue the domestic poli- bombing of the city, and it has turned the cies that he has pursued since 1999. Chechen republic into a zone of chaotic and ultra-violent ‘special operations’ in which death, humiliation and torture are common- What happened in Beslan? place experiences. As the French philosopher André Glucksmann has argued, the range of On the morning of September 1, just after the estimates of civilian deaths (from 100,000 to school opening ceremony in School No. 1, a

Focaal – European Journal of Anthropology 44 (2004): 155–162 156 | Zaindi Choltaev and Michaela Pohl still unknown number of terrorists (thirty- calls. On Friday morning Aushev planned to three to thirty-seven, among them two to make a repeat visit together with Aslak- five women) stormed the buildings and hanov to acquaint the terrorists with a state- forced more than 1,200 students, their parents ment by Maskhadov, downloaded from the and teachers to gather in the school’s gymna- Internet, condemning the hostage taking. sium, which they mined. After 11:00 AM, they Starting Wednesday night, army, Federal Se- purportedly issued a statement in which curity Service and Interior Ministry troops they threatened to blow up the building in and special equipment, including troops the event of a storming and demanded the from the special anti-terror units Alpha and presence of the Ingush president Murat Vympel, were concentrated in and around Ziazikov, the president of North Ossetia Beslan. At 1:05 PM on the third day, while Alexander Dzasokhov and pediatrician Dr. waiting for the arrival of Aslakhanov, sev- Alexander Roshal for the purpose of negoti- eral powerful explosions took place and ations. Around 2:00 PM, the terrorists sent chaotic shooting erupted near the school and out a videotape that showed the gymna- all around town, including fire from flame- sium’s interior, while officials announced throwers, tanks, helicopters above the school that about two hundred people had been and from what Aushev later called “a foolish taken hostage. The sole negotiator to arrive third force” (Muratov 2004), armed groups of in Beslan that day was Dr. Roshal, who late local men concentrated around the school. that night began to talk to the terrorists by While the terrorists fired from the school and phone, and never entered the school. Others some attempted to leave it, special force communicated with the terrorists as well, in- troops and soldiers entered the building and cluding the president of the Rusneft oil com- opened fire on terrorists who had managed pany. The hostage takers first asked for to take up positions in adjacent houses. water and food, then refused to accept it, Around 3:30 PM, the speaker of the North and moreover threatened to shoot fifty hos- Ossetian parliament called on local resi- tages for every terrorist killed. During the dents to scour Beslan for terrorists. Around take-over and when the building’s electric- 5:00 PM, a group of men found and beat to ity was turned off, they shot over a dozen death a man presumed to be one of the men and some of the older schoolboys. hostage takers. The shooting and search for At 6:30 AM on the morning of September 2, terrorists went on until late in the evening officials announced that 354 people were in- of September 3. The official count of vic- side the school. A number of former hostages tims, which has been contested, remains at have stated that from that point on nobody 329, about half of them children. was allowed to drink, not even the water that This very rudimentary narrative of the was available in the school’s toilet. On the af- events, based largely on eyewitness accounts, ternoon of the second day, former Ingush including that of Aushev, leaves out the an- president Ruslan Aushev arrived in Beslan, guish and fear of the hostages, the pitiless and, after talking to the hostage takers by determination of the terrorists, the stench, phone, decided to enter the school. He was the feces and blood on the floor of the gym- allowed to take out a small group of eleven nasium, the bodies of the murdered hostages women and fifteen infants, as well as a letter in and around the school, the chaos that en- addressed to President Putin that demanded sued after the storming of the school began, the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya. the empty looks on the faces of the children According to Aushev, the terrorists were carried from the school, their naked, emaci- willing to negotiate with the former Chechen ated bodies, the panic on the faces of the president Aslan Maskhadov and invited tele- townspeople. For all the bareness of this de- phone calls from “any federal minister”. scription, however, very few people in Rus- During the night from Thursday to Friday sia can say more about the events in Beslan negotiations continued in the form of phone with any certainty. This leaves us with an Between Budennovsk and Beslan | 157 enormous amount of questions. Who was re- did the investigating officer in charge of the sponsible for operative decisions in Beslan, case – while other policemen involved in and what were their plans? Did they plan to Pumane’s detention were rewarded with storm the school, and when? Why the ap- prizes and medals for their ‘professional pearance of complete paralysis before Sep- conduct’ and for saving people from yet an- tember 3? Why did the authorities lie about other terrorist attack. Another case was the the number of hostages, and why did they lie unsuccessful recent attempt to blame the about the absence of demands from the ter- murder of Paul Khlebnikov, the editor of the rorists? Why did the presidents of Ingushetia Russian edition of Forbes Magazine, on two and North Ossetia refuse to negotiate, and Chechen men. why was Putin silent throughout the events? The country has been seized by terroma- Why were the local men not kept from inter- nia. Gangs of young men roam the subway, fering? How many terrorists have actually beating ‘Caucasian nationals’, others burn perished, and how many are in custody? down Armenian and Azeri kiosks and res- The investigation that has taken place so taurants, shouting: “This is for the terror!” A far raises even more questions. The parlia- wave of attacks on foreigners and dark- mentary commission headed by Alexander skinned people in St. Petersburg this year Torshin, made up of members from the State has resulted in at least three deaths (a Tajik Duma and the Federation Council, has been girl, a Syrian student and a Vietnamese stu- unable to interview senior Federal Security dent). Russians seemed unmoved: almost ex- Service and Interior Ministry officers who clusively foreign students attended a recent were present in Beslan. Its members have demonstration to protest ethnic and xeno- talked to Beslan townspeople, former hostages, phobic violence and the inaction of the au- medical personnel and ordinary soldiers. Some thorities. The airports have been seized by an of them, perhaps out of frustration, have con- epidemic of passenger self-justice. People in ducted themselves rather unprofessionally – public transport eye each other suspiciously. for example, Iurii Savelev, who announced Chechen students told us that small groups in a recent interview that he planned to ask of passengers regularly leave the car when- Ruslan Aushev why the terrorists let him go ever they get on a bus or subway. One caller unharmed (upon which Aushev promptly to a radio show proudly told how she and refused to appear before the commission), her fellow passengers forced an ‘Eastern’ and added, even more mysteriously, that woman to undress in a subway car. In a par- “the truth about who is really behind this ticularly poignant example, a young Armen- may be so terrifying that its publication ian journalist wrote about the fear with might cause new and bloody conflicts” which he followed every movement of a (Savelev 2004). young dark-haired woman traveling in the same tram, after an elderly woman had at- tacked him a few days before, screaming: Lies and terromania “Terrorist! I am making a citizen’s arrest!” (Khachatrian 2004). A 45-year-old Chechen People in Russia are unlikely to find out the woman told us that this is nothing new, and truth or even partial truths about what caused that the situation was even worse after the the Beslan tragedy. Russia’s war on terror hostage taking at the musical show Nord-Ost has taken increasingly bizarre turns since in the center of Moscow in October 2002: “I Beslan. One example is the chain of events feel so guilty, after every terrorist attack! I that followed the discovery of explosives in walk around, avoiding everyone’s eyes, and the center of Moscow in a car allegedly I have the feeling that the whole world is driven by Alexander Pumane, a former sub- looking at me, thinking I am some kind of marine officer. The suspect was either beaten devil. I am so tired of the looks I get.” Like to death or disappeared altogether,2 and so many Muslim women in the capital, she no 158 | Zaindi Choltaev and Michaela Pohl longer dares to wear her headscarf in public, groups like Memorial, i.e. the continuation of or even to take a handbag as people suspi- human rights abuses in filtration camps and ciously glance at it, afraid it may contain ex- during zachistki (cleansing operations) and plosives or weapons. Other women avoid the intensification of the seemingly endless leaving the house altogether. nightmare of torture, rape and disappear- The authorities and government-controlled ances in Chechnya, Nabi Abdullaev has re- media have done nothing to calm some of cently argued that Russia’s human rights these fears. On the contrary, everyone is made movement essentially supports the rebels be- to feel ‘at war’. Since September, television cause they have shown ‘force’ and claims that programming has been inundated with old the recognition that Putin has risen to power and new war films and with documentaries on a wave of anti-Chechen sentiment is a about secret services. Every speech, headline, ‘plot’ (Abdullaev 2004). talk show, nearly every sentence is spiced up If there is a plot, it is state-sponsored with a reference to terror or explosions. Terror Chechenophobia and anti-Caucasian senti- and trauma are being used to manipulate the ment. For years, Chechens and other Cau- Russian public to revert to simplified stereo- casians living in Russia have been subject to types of ‘enemies of the people’, external as special police operations called ‘Hurricane’ well as internal ones. Beslan was followed by and ‘Whirlwind Anti-terror’, in which police a wave of anti-American insinuations in the collect an enormous amount of information on Russian press, which attempted to show that each ‘native of NCR’ (the North Caucasus Re- criticism of Putin was driven by conservative gion) within their jurisdiction. These ‘total US think tanks who are out to destroy Russia, checks’ rely on testimonies from neighbors, and that the Chechen cause in the West has janitors and technical personnel about their been taken up mainly by former Cold War- Caucasian neighbors’ lives, on life style, riors, for the same cynical reason. A sharp in- source of income and visitors. They offer little crease in anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism protection against terrorist threats, but are ac- is evident not only in the press and in thou- ceptable to the Russian public as a sign that sands of online posts, but in our conversa- something is happening to prevent new at- tions, which indicate that many ordinary peo- tacks (Choltaev and Pohl 2004). History re- ple as well as members of the intelligentsia peats itself. Many Russians believe (again) that find comfort in ‘solid proof’ of worldwide the deportation of the Chechen and Ingush plots. While some Chechens blame every sin- people by Stalin was justified in the interests of gle act of terror on Federal Security Service national security, because of the revival of alle- conspiracies, their Russian counterparts be- gations that the Chechens fought on the side of lieve that America and/or ‘the Jews’ are ‘be- the Germans during the Second World War. In hind the Chechen rebellion’, or that terrorists the 1940s, police agents purposely spread ru- act with the implicit encouragement of human mors that the deported Chechens were ‘ene- rights organizations. Russian NGOs who con- mies of the people’, ‘traitors’, ‘cut throats’, tinue to appeal to open talks with moderate ‘bandits’ and even ‘cannibals’ (Pohl 2002). Chechen separatists have in recent weeks Sixty years on, most ordinary citizens are con- been widely depicted as anti-Russian traitors, vinced that the Chechens represent a special who work for foreign governments and whose ‘ethnic criminal community’. real aims are to weaken the country and to slander the president. Ekaterina Lakhova, a State Duma deputy, put it this way: “Feeling Post-Beslan reforms and Russia’s the support of those who make these appeals, war on terror the terrorists strike increasingly powerful and cruel blows.” This view has found its way into Putin seized the moment of panic immedi- academic discourse as well. Avoiding to men- ately after Beslan to announce several major tion the real issues behind the position of reform initiatives that will strengthen the Between Budennovsk and Beslan | 159 so-called vertical of power and weaken polit- country actually showed the photographs of ical rivals. He proposed a new system that fourteen female doctors working for the will allow him to personally appoint regional NGO International Medical Corps in In- governors and judges, and introduced plans gushetia. When the women complained, the to discontinue independent (non-party) can- posters were supposedly removed, but they didatures to the Duma. In addition, pro-Putin received no explanation and no apologies for and nationalist deputies proposed a bill that the mistake that might have cost them their would make it more difficult for small parties lives. Beslan has given new impetus to the re- to register as political organizations and thus turn of time-honored methods like denuncia- to participate in elections, and the Duma has tions in controlling the movement of illegal already passed a new law that allows gov- migrants. In mid-September, Moscow’s mayor ernment ministers to hold leading roles in a Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow regional governor political party. These changes will benefit Boris Gromov and members of parliament large pro-government parties and threaten called for strict measures to close Moscow primarily the small liberal parties. They con- and other major cities to migrants and to tinue the effort to reduce the number of par- members of ‘certain nationalities’, many of ties overall and to control the political sys- which were unconstitutional and impractical tem, which was initiated last year with an (and impossible to implement). However, the amendment that raised the threshold for par- Duma is now working on a new law entitled liamentary elections from 5 percent of the ‘On the registration of citizens of the Russian vote to 7 percent. On the whole, however, the Federation’ that will replace the current regu- proposed changes will weaken the political lation ‘On the freedom of movement’. The system, because they will make officials even proposal calls for the participation of ordi- less accountable to local constituencies, and nary citizens, who will be encouraged to in- frustrated regional elites will seek alternative form on new neighbors and ‘unknowns’ in outlets. As professor Robert Bruce Ware has return for monetary awards. Vladimir Pligin, argued, this will be especially problematic in chairman of the Duma legal commission, ex- the Caucasus, where wealthy men of author- plained that there is nothing wrong with the ity and political leaders will pretend to accept word ‘informer’ and added that paying for the Kremlin’s appointee, but work to sabo- information about illegal migrants “is not the tage the system, possibly by contributing to worst thing in our current conditions. At radical causes (Lavelle 2004). This spring, the least then we would not have to pay awards Kremlin already reaped the results of manip- of ten million dollars, but could pay out more ulating referendum and election results and reasonable sums” (Kolesnichenko 2004). He imposing an illegitimate leader, in the form of was referring to the award of 300 million the assassination of Chechnya’s president, rubles or about ten million dollars offered by Akhmed Kadyrov. the Federal Security Service on September 8, Apart from this, and apart from obvious for information leading to the capture of security measures like placing guards in Shamil Basaev and Aslan Maskhadov. schools and reducing the commercial chaos Up to now the Kremlin has shown little in- near metro stations, nearly all of the meas- terest in destroying the bandits among the ures that the government has taken to fight Chechens, but has worked to keep destroy- terror are aimed at identifying and finding ing Chechens as a ‘bandit nation’. The war in terrorists. All of these actions are weakened Chechnya has led to a complete confusion of by mistakes and inept implementation and terms. Called a ‘counter-terrorist operation’ by an all-pervasive corruption on a scale by the Russians, it has turned all Chechens unimaginable to most Europeans and Amer- into suspects and turned hundreds of thou- icans. In one recent case, operative ‘wanted’ sands of survivors into refugees in their own posters of fourteen alleged female terrorists country. The Chechens see it as state terror- that were put up in police stations all over the ism, which has caused little but disinterested 160 | Zaindi Choltaev and Michaela Pohl silence in Europe and America. As Anna airport security, for example, use their new Politkovskaya has argued for years, the war jobs primarily to fill their own pockets. In in Chechnya is carried out in an incoherent mid-October, using a hidden camera, journal- and inefficient manner. The great majority of ists working for the television show Vremechko victims of brutal raids that end in mass torture showed how security officers at Moscow’s and interrogations are not really asked coher- Domodedovo airport target and detain pas- ent or probing questions. Chechen boys are sengers late for flights – and then collect arrested because they are ‘tall’. Cleansing op- bribes to let them make their connection. The erations in villages start only after fighters police officers filmed each made over USD have come and gone. The security services se- 1,000 in the course of one shift. In such condi- cretly support not moderates (they and their tions, policies designed to fight terror merely families are the most endangered people in whet the appetites of those assigned to carry this war) but pro-Arab extremists (Politkov- out controls and corruption continues to spi- skaya 2003). According to evidence published ral out of control. Russia’s war on terror in Novaya Gazeta, terrorists and extortionists serves to increase the budget and influence of live and travel in Chechnya without interfer- the police and security services, but ulti- ence, and Federal Security Service agents mately weakens the state. have helped Basaev pass federal checkpoints The Russian government (and society) has (Izmailov 2004). In an interview in Decem- done almost nothing to fight the social and ber 2001, Bislan Gantamirov, the former political causes of terrorism. All of Chechnya mayor of Grozny, argued that finding either is one big wound, one big Beslan, but no one Basaev or Maskhadov presented no special is making a coherent effort to restore the bru- difficulties: “Everyone in Chechnya can point talized republic. Huge federal subsidies end out the village where Basaev is staying, or up back in Moscow, officials come and go, tell you where Maskhadov was yesterday” and most of them have more reasons to pre- (Gantamirov 2001). Like more than 40 per- serve the status quo than to seek change. A cent of Russians (Samigullina 2004), he be- new generation of Chechen fighters thinks lit- lieves that the security services could easily tle of independence, but is determined to ex- destroy either Basaev or Maskhadov, but act revenge for humiliations and torture, for choose not to do so – perhaps because this raped and murdered relatives. A highly re- might endanger the interests of highly placed spected member of the Chechen diaspora in officials. Those who probe this issue too Moscow, whose family has lost more than deeply are killed or disappear. twenty members to extremist violence, told Most of the men in power in Russia are for- us: “Beslan is a signal to Putin, to change his mer KGB officers, starting with Putin himself. approach.” Others added that blood was The list includes Defense Minister Ivanov, shed in Nord-Ost and Beslan because of Rus- Federal Security Service Chief Patrushev, the sia’s unwillingness to negotiate. president of Ingushetia, Ziazikov and many The Kremlin’s stance towards Maskha- governors and ministers and their aides and dov, the Chechen president elected in 1997 lower-placed officials. They are used to work- by the citizens of Chechnya over Basaev (the ing by hiding the truth, and by manipulating runner-up), is equally damaging. Maskha- people through fear, by creating artificial con- dov found it impossible to disarm the victo- flicts and by creating an atmosphere of suspi- rious rebels and, rather than risk a civil war, cion. Their measures used to work, and they tried to please all sides. Unable to rule with- might work now if the system were not so out giving in to extremists and severe human thoroughly weakened by corruption. As jour- rights abuses, he nonetheless must be given nalist Nick Paton Walsh has recently argued, a chance to make a graceful exit, otherwise Putin is “trying to build a police state without he will never cease to be an inflammatory a functioning police force” (Walsh 2004). Many symbol. Talks with Maskhadov do not mean of the police officers assigned to strengthen that he has to be restored to power. Between Budennovsk and Beslan | 161

Conclusion former wife came from St. Petersburg to iden- tify the body, but by the time she arrived the Russia is a multi-national state, and the cur- body had been exchanged, so she and rela- rent wave of paranoia, xenophobia and ter- tives said it was somebody completely differ- romania will not unify society. The search for ent. It remains unknown what actually hap- pened, since the person who signed Pumane’s enemies creates illusionary unity, while it ac- protocol disappeared after a week, too. tually turns people against each other, and makes society easier to rule. Everyone inter- viewed for this article sought to share one simple insight. “This is a commercial war”, they said, and no one really wants to stop it References because it is too profitable. The violence con- tinues because every single document check, Abdullaev, Nabi 2004. Chechnya ten years later. every arrest, every house search, every dis- Current History, October 2004: pp. 332–6. appearance, every death is profitable to some- Andriukhin, Aleksandr, Nikolai Gritchin, Vladimir Demchenko, Natalia Ratiani and one, and the war as a whole is profitable to Vadim Rechkalov 2004. Ves’ pol’ byl useian Putin, the Kremlin and the generals. The war telami mertvykh detei [The whole floor was against the Chechens serves to legitimize the covered with the bodies of dead children]. regime, and Russia’s leaders have not made Izvestiia. Article in edition of September 4, an effort to find out or tell the truth about the 2004: pp. 4–5. causes of terror, to fight the all-pervasive cor- Choltaev, Zaindi and Michaela Pohl 2004. Russia’s ruption that is such an obvious factor in all of ‘purge’ of Chechens. Boston Globe. Web site: the latest major attacks, or to find convincing www.boston.com.: accessed on March 14, 2004. social and political solutions in Chechnya. Gantamirov, Bislan 2001. Maskhadov v teple i s Russia has embraced the war on terror, but babkami [Maskhadov is warm and surrounded the Kremlin is not really interested in putting by women]. Argumenty i fakty. Web site: news.aif.ru, accessed on December 19, 2004. an end to the terror. Until it does, we must be Glucksmann, André 2003. Qui est terroriste? prepared for more tragedies. [Who is a terrorist?]. In: Frederique Longuet Marx (ed.), Tchetchenie: la guerre jusque’au dernier? [Chechnya: war to the end?] Paris: Mille et Une Nuits: p. 4. Notes Izmailov, Viacheslav 2004. Poviazannye: luchshye agenty spetssluzhb – terroristy, ubiitsy, vymo- 1. This article was prepared using quotes from gateli [Tied together: the best agents of the spe- interviews that we conducted in September cial services – terrorists, murderers, extortion- and October 2004 in Moscow and several ers]. Novaya Gazeta. Web site: novayagazeta.ru: other locations in Russia, as well as materials accessed on October 11, 2004. from RIA Novosti, Izvestiia, Komsomolskaya Khachatrian, Serob 2004. Podvig [Victory]. Bol- Pravda, Grani.ru, Gazeta.ru and Ekho Moskvy. shoi Gorod. Article in edition of October 1, Articles that are specifically worth mention- 2004: p. 4. ing, though not directly cited here, are An- Kolesnichenko, Aleksandr 2004. Stuchat – otkroite driukhin et al. (2004) and Zorin (2004). dver’ [When they knock – open the door]. 2. It seems Pumane was taken into a cellar (of Novye Izvestiia. Web site: www.newiz.ru: ac- the kind that the police claim do not exist), in- cessed October 7, 2004. terrogated in the presence of 150 people of all Kots, Aleksandr 2004. Tol’ko kamennye serdtsa ranks and beaten to pulp. Then he was taken ne plachut v eti dni: Rossia pominaet pogib- away and, on the way to the hospital, appar- shikh v shkole No. 1 [Only hearts of stone do ently disappeared. He was then announced not cry on this day: Russia remembers the dead (in fact, that was the very first version, victims of School No. 1]. Komsomolskaya before the details about the interrogation ap- Pravda. Web site: www.kp.ru: accessed Octo- peared: the suspect became ill and died). His ber 12, 2004. 162 | Zaindi Choltaev and Michaela Pohl

Lavelle, Peter 2004. Q & A: Robert Bruce Ware – are ordered not to take Basaev]. Gazeta. Web North Caucasian precipice. Untimely Thoughts. site: www.gazeta.ru: accessed on October Web site: www.untimely-thoughts.com: ac- 19, 2004. cessed on September 20, 2004. Savelev, Iurii 2004. Interview. Radio Station Ekho Muratov, Dmitrii 2004. My poteriali poltora dnia. Moskvy. Web site: www.echo.msk.ru: accessed Ruslan Aushev – o tom, chto proizoshlo s on October 12, 2004. nami na ego glazakh [We lost one and one- Straus, Ira 2004. 1991, 9–11, Beslan: the third half days: Ruslan Aushev about what hap- stage in Russia-US cooperation? Untimely pened to us before his eyes]. Novaia Gazeta. Thoughts. Web site: www.untimely-thoughts Web site: novaya-gazeta.ru: accessed on Sep- .com: accessed on October 13, 2004. tember 6, 2004. Walsh, Nick Paton 2004. A police state minus the Pohl, Michaela 2002. “It cannot be that our graves police. The Guardian. Web site: guardian.co.uk: will be here”: the survival of Chechen and In- accessed on September 23, 2004. gush deportees in Kazakhstan, 1944– 1957. Zorin, Iaroslav 2004. Boeviki podgotovili vzryv: Journal of Genocide Research, 4(3): pp. 401–30. Ruslan Aushev rasskazal, kak beslanskaia Politkovskaya, Anna 2003. Tschetschenien: die tragedia otrazitsia na situatsii na Severnom Wahrheit über den Krieg [Chechnya: the truth Kavkaze [The rebels prepared an explosion: about the war]. Cologne: Dumont (Translated Ruslan Aushev told how the Beslan tragedy from Russian by Hannelore Umbreit and Ul- will affect the situation in the Northern Cau- rike Zemme). casus]. Gazeta. Web site: www.gzt.ru: accessed Samigullina, Alia 2004. “Spetssluzhbami dan on September 30, 2004. prikaz ne brat’ Basaeva” [The special services