First Chechen War could have been prevented, Chechen experts and residents assert

Witnesses and participants of the First Chechen War, which began exactly 20 years ago, on December 11, 1994, believe that the tragedy could have been avoided. The Moscow officials and the authorities of the self-proclaimed Ichkeria could have started dialogue. This opinion has been expressed by Akhmed Yarlykapov, an expert of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to Akhmed Yarlykapov, at the beginning of the conflict, "Dudayev had no separatist intentions." "Officials should have started the dialogue to prevent hostilities. The then existing political and legal system could have solved the conflict with Dudayev peacefully. Being a professional soldier, General Dudayev was perfectly aware that the forces were not comparable and that the war against Russia was absolutely useless. However, I believe that in terms of the war triggered, Dudayev could hardly control the situation," Akhmed Yarlykapov notes.

Civilians remember that in December 1994, they were looking forward to the soonest announcement of the armistice and peace negotiations.

"Nobody believed that we would be shelled and killed in our houses. When the invasion began, we took it as a misunderstanding," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Khazman Saidulaeva, a resident of Chechnya.

Combatants from the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria remember that at the very beginning of the First Chechen War, they had no sense of hostility against the Russian soldiers.

"I was then serving at one of the units of Ichkeria, and I remember very well the mood of my colleagues. We did not treat Russian soldiers as enemies, and these were politicians who brought us to fight against them," says Umar, a former combatant of the armed forces of Ichkeria.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.