If history repeat itself, there will be another "zachistki" which will see men between the ages of 15 and 49 face the threat of theft, beatings, arrest, and murder by Russian soldiers.
According to Jackson Diehl "the campaign by the Russian military and police against Chechnya's separatists has degenerated into a full-fledged dirty war, complete with disappearances, mass graves, systematic torture and summary execution of civilians." Some even called what is going on in Chechnya as mini-genocide.
A 2001 Article On Chechnya
Refugee problem in Chechnya and Russia
Quote:
"[W]e have an atmosphere of continuous and very serious violence. There are regular attacks on Russian forces by Chechen fighters. . . . The Russian forces, in retaliation, ostensibly to flush out or go after what they think are the fighters, are shelling cities and villages. They shoot into apartments, into houses. . . So-called sweeps by Russian forces occur all the time after an attack on a Russian soldier or group of soldiers or a Russian vehicle. They sweep into town with 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 soldiers in vehicles and they often arrest people en masse. They often kill people, seemingly at random, but they rush into the villages and wreak havoc."
|
-Len Rubenstein, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights