Russia and Chechnya

Your editorial Dec. 17 (“Chechnya: Yes, It’s an Internal Matter”) depicts insensitivity to a bloody human-rights violation. Your argument that “no Russian government would likely agree to accept Chechnya’s independence out of well-justified fear that the precedent could inspire half a dozen other non-Russian areas to similarly demand separation from the federation” proves that the Russian Federation is being kept together solely by force. That being the case, can you expect Russia to become a democracy?

The disintegration of a vast empire, which started with Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika, is still going on. It is not in the interest of the United States to slow down the historical process.

JUOZAS KOJELIS

Santa Monica

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On the front page (Dec. 21), there was a picture of women in Chechnya wearing colorful coats. These women are a sample of 100,000 people who are lined up on the ice, in nonviolent protest of Russia’s military aggression. The reporter speaks of a very large crater left by a bomb possibly weighing 1,000 pounds, from a recent Russian attack.

Something strikes me as anachronous here. Is this the Stone Age? Isn’t dropping a 1,000-pound bomb a variation on throwing stones--except that a bomb blows up everything and hurts more people? Isn’t this the post-Cold War era? Didn’t the Russians learn anything from Afghanistan? Has Boris Yeltsin already forgotten about human rights?

JAN TURETSKY

Los Angeles

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I am a Chechenian living in the U.S. for the past two years. The recent tragic events in my homeland and the incomplete coverage of the events in the media urge me to write this letter.

One hundred and thirty-five years ago, after 20 years of bloody war, Russia occupied the Chechenian nation. Since that time, Chechenians have been discriminated against and mistreated on the grounds of nationality and religion.

In 1944, the people of the Chechen Republic were sent to exile in Siberia under a fabricated premise: connections with Nazi Germany. About 250,000 people died on that journey within a few months. But Chechenians stuck together and survived unbelievable hardships in Siberia.

After 13 years, they were allowed to come back to their homeland to find that others owned their land and property. They have had to continue to carry the burden of being treated as second-class citizens.

The post-communist era brought hope of independence for the Chechenian people. In 1991, they elected their first president and strongly supported the Declaration of Independence from Russia. In the next three years, Chechnya went on to build the necessary democratic institutions such as a parliament and judicial system.

Now we are at the point where Russian tanks and bombers are assaulting the capital. History is repeating itself.

RAMZAN MAGOMEDOV

St. Paul, Minn.

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The Russians are learning fast. They’re spending $100 million to make war on Chechnya while 31 Moscow homeless freeze to death (Dec. 22).

TANJA WINTER

La Jolla