Russian Held After Alleged Effort to Smuggle Guerrillas

A Russian army colonel was arrested at a police checkpoint in the separatist republic of Chechnya this week as he tried to smuggle five wounded guerrillas out of the war zone to safety, allegedly for a bribe of $25,000, Russian officials said Wednesday.

The arrest was the first evidence from the Russian side that supports claims by Chechen field commanders that corrupt Russian officers have secretly helped the Chechens and their cause, usually for cash.

Col. Alexander Savchenko was arrested Sunday at a checkpoint near the recently liberated rebel stronghold of Shatoi with five fighters hidden in his jeep, officials said. Two were identified as ethnic Chechens and three as “Arab mercenaries.”

“Unfortunately, against the backdrop of widespread heroism, it hurts me to say that [within the armed forces] there are some individual scoundrels--I cannot use another term--who commit crimes,” said Alexander Zhdanovich, a spokesman for the FSB, the main successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB. “It is even more uncomfortable for me as a man who carries epaulets on his shoulders to admit that some of them are officers.”

Police who discovered the wounded fighters in the vehicle immediately opened fire, killing the three Arabs, according to news reports. The two ethnic Chechens survived and were arrested along with Savchenko.

“Thanks to decisive action by the police at the checkpoint, we have received the first real confirmation of what the Chechen command has said all along--that Russian forces are helping their fight against Russia,” the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper wrote. “Before it seemed that was nothing but lies and disinformation. But after the ‘heroic feat’ of Col. Savchenko, it seems the rebels have not really exaggerated the ‘assistance’ of our officers after all.”

News of the arrest comes as Russia is sending conflicting signals on whether it is ready to begin peace talks with Chechen leaders, apparently in response to increasing criticism and pressure from Europe. Last week, the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe voted to expel Russia from the human rights organization in June unless Russia begins peace talks with the rebels.

Since Russia went to war against Chechnya last fall, Kremlin officials have said negotiations are impossible until an extensive list of conditions is met, including that all field commanders are surrendered to Russia.

In what some observers have seen as a slight softening of Russia’s stance, Kremlin spokesman Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky said Tuesday that Moscow had “maintained contacts” with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, “aiming to launch some kind of political process.”

But Yastrzhembsky appeared to backtrack on that overture Wednesday. Speaking in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, Yastrzhembsky told the Itar-Tass news agency that “if Maskhadov wants to help [start such a process], we can establish contacts with him. However, we have not received any real proposals from him.”

Statements by Maskhadov that he is ready for dialogue “are a deceptive maneuver,” Yastrzhembsky said.

Reports that Russian soldiers and officers have secretly aided the Chechens have surfaced repeatedly during Russia’s two wars against Chechnya--the first of which ended in stalemate.

In the first war, launched by then-President Boris N. Yeltsin in 1994, Russian forces frequently sold arms and ammunition to the rebels. Since the second conflict began last year, human rights groups have documented incidents in which Russian generals accepted bribes from Chechen civilians in return for sparing their homes or villages from bombardment. Rumors have also circulated that Russian officers have provided the rebels safe passage out of besieged towns and villages.

“It is no secret that registration papers, passes and even passports change hands for money at many checkpoints all over Chechnya,” said military analyst Alexander I. Zhilin.

But he said the Savchenko case should be considered an exception, not the rule. “It stands out as one of the most cynical crimes which have been exposed in Chechnya recently,” he said. “It is a very disturbing signal and calls for a serious assessment of the psychological state of soldiers and officers lost in the middle of a conflict which is gradually losing its rhyme and reason.”

Savchenko’s arrest is the second recently of a senior army officer on criminal charges. Two weeks ago, Russia announced the arrest of Col. Yuri Budanov, who has been charged with raping and strangling an 18-year-old Chechen woman.

Other than the two high-profile arrests, few Russian soldiers have been arrested or charged with crimes during the conflict. Human rights groups say Russian officials have shown little interest in investigating alleged abuses, creating a culture of impunity.