DATE=10/8/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA AND ISLAM
NUMBER=5-44461
BYLINE=ED WARNER
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent
States (C-I-S) have begun a conference at Yalta to
discuss ways to combat Islamic terrorism. As Russian
troops drive into Chechnya, Moscow blames Islamic
fundamentalists for the revolts there and in Central
Asia. But as V-O-A's Ed Warner reports, one Western
analyst has a different view of the increasing
violence in the former republics of the Soviet Union.
TEXT: Moscow is now blaming Islamic fundamentalism
for just about every outbreak of violence in the
Caucasus and Central Asia. Without any real evidence,
it holds Chechen Islamists responsible for the recent
spate of bombings in Russia. Help us fight this
Islamist plague, it asks of other nations.
Yet, when called upon to send arms to fight Islamic
terrorists in Kyrgyzstan, Moscow's efforts have
stalled. No weapons have reached Kyrgyz forces, which
are too weak to cope with invading rebels who have
seized hostages. Moscow says help is on the way, but
by slow train with no clear arrival date.
This is highly suspicious behaviour, says Vladimir
Socor, a Munich-based senior analyst of the Jamestown
Foundation who follows events in the former Soviet
Union. Moscow says it faces a network of Islamic
terrorists from Chechnya across all of Central Asia.
Yet, it hesitates to help suppress a small group of
terrorists in Kyrgyzstan.
Mr. Socor says Moscow has other things in mind:
// Socor act //
I am convinced the reason for this is Moscow's
attempt to maximize the sense of insecurity
among Central Asian governments in order to drag
them into Russia's latest regional project,
which is rebuilding a regional security
organization on the basis of the C-I-S
collective security treaty.
// End act //
Mr. Socor says Moscow is more concerned about
reasserting its authority in the Caucasus and Central
Asia than it is about the Islamic threat. But blaming
Islam seems to play well in the West:
// Socor act //
This deception is having a certain degree of
success because we see lot of Western officials
taking these Russian claims at face value,
claims that Russia is directly and massively
threatened by international terrorism and that
the West must, to some extent, condone Russian
atrocities against the civilian population
because Russia's military allegedly is after
international terrorism.
// End act //
Vladimir Socor says the Islamist scare is especially
unconvincing since Russia has contributed to it.
Shamil Basayev, the Chechen who provoked the war with
Russia by invading Dagestan, was trained by Russian
security forces. He was sent to fight in Abkhazia in
its effort to secede from Georgia and was decorated
for his services. Now, Mr. Socor says, he is biting
the hand that fed him. (Signed)
NEB/EW/ENE/rrm
08-Oct-1999 18:05 PM EDT (08-Oct-1999 2205 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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