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	Дата	18.09.2000 08:32:35
	Рубрики	Спецслужбы; Армия;

Стaтья про Чeчню из "Los Angeles Times" ч 1

MOSCOW--They call it bespredel--literally, "no limits." It means acting outside the rules, violently and with impunity. It
translates as "excesses" or "atrocities."
It's the term Russian soldiers use to describe their actions in Chechnya.
"Without bespredel, we'll get nowhere in Chechnya," a 21-year-old conscript explained.
"We have to be cruel to them. Otherwise, we'll achieve nothing."
Since Russia launched a new war against separatist rebels in its republic of Chechnya a year
ago, Russian and Western human rights organizations have collected thousands of pages of
testimony from victims about human rights abuses committed by Russian servicemen against
Chechen civilians and suspected rebel fighters.
To hear the other side of the story, a Times reporter traveled to more than half a dozen
regions around Russia and interviewed more than two dozen Russian servicemen returning from
the war front. What they recounted largely matches the picture painted in the human rights
reports: The men freely acknowledge that acts considered war crimes under international law
not only take place but are also commonplace.
In fact, most admitted committing such acts themselves--everything from looting to summary
executions to torture.
"There was bespredel all the time," one 35-year-old soldier said. "You can't let it get to
you."
The servicemen say atrocities aren't directly ordered from
above; instead, they result from a Russian military culture that
glorifies ardor in battle, portrays the enemy as inhuman and has no
effective system of accountability.
"Your army is based on professionalism," said a 27-year-old
paratrooper who served alongside U.S. troops as a peacekeeper in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Our army is based on fervor."
Russian officials, including the Kremlin's war spokesman,
Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky, have criticized the human rights reports,
saying they are riddled with rumor and rebel propaganda. Officials
have sometimes blamed reported atrocities on what they describe
as rebel fighters dressed as Russian soldiers.
But they acknowledge that some human rights violations do
occur and say they are taking steps to curb them.
"[Chechens] are Russian citizens, for whose sake the operation
was undertaken in the first place," Yastrzhembsky said in an
interview. "They should be treated according to the same laws as
in the rest of Russia. Any violation, regardless of who commits it,
must be reviewed by the procurator [investigating magistrate] and
the guilty parties should be punished."
That may be the Kremlin's official position, but servicemen say
things are different on the ground. In part because of media
coverage of Chechen slave-trading, torture and beheadings, the
soldiers believe that the enemy is guilty of far worse atrocities.
Although they know that executions and other human rights
violations are wrong, they also consider them an
unavoidable--even necessary--part of waging war, especially
against such a foe.
In their view, human rights workers and other critics are simply
squeamish about the real nature of war.
"What rules? What Geneva
Conventions? What difference does it
make if Russia has signed them?"
said a 25-year-old army officer. "I
didn't sign them, none of my friends
signed them. . . . In Russia, these
rules don't work."
Perhaps most important, the
servicemen described a pervasive
and powerful culture of impunity in
the Russian armed forces. They
believe that authorities say one thing
in public but deliberately turn a blind
eye to many war crimes. A few even
said investigators helped cover up
such atrocities. Right or wrong, the
soldiers are confident that authorities
will make no serious effort to investigate war zone misconduct.
"You don't make it obvious, and they don't look too hard," another 21-year-old conscript said. "Everyone understands that's
the way it works."
Many of the servicemen admitted having troubled consciences. But like a mantra, most repeated what they had been
taught--that whether one likes it or not, going to war means acting bespredel.
"What kind of human rights can there be in wartime?" said a 31-year-old police commando. "It's fine to violate human
rights within certain limits."