The Indianapolis Star September 14, 2004
Today's Editorial: U.S. should keep distance from Putin
Our position is: The U.S. should be wary of working too closely with Russia to combat terrorism.
A middle-aged woman sobs while holding the photo of murdered 10-year-old Madina Tamayeva. Rows of half-opened body bags are stuffed with children and adults. The images from the attack on School No. 1 in the Russian town of Beslan evoke memories of America's own experience with terror three years ago.
So it was wholly appropriate that President Bush condemn the Chechen rebels likely behind the massacre for their atrocities.
Nothing can justify an attack on innocent children. But does that mean the United States needs to go so far, as President Bush said, as to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Russia in its approach to terrorism? Not if it implies support of the thuggish behavior Russian President Vladimir Putin has used to maintain his regime's power.
Beslan was merely the latest episode in a bloody history dating back to the seizure of a theater in Moscow by 36 Chechnyan terrorists two years ago. That ordeal ended in the deaths of 116 hostages. Ninety Russians were killed in the days before the Beslan attack in the apparent suicide bombing of two passenger planes. A recent explosion outside a Moscow subway station killed 10 civilians.
None of those brutal killings can be justified, not even by Russia's bare-knuckled attempts to stifle Chechnya's independence movement. Russian air strikes and "indiscriminate and disproportionate force" led to at least 25,000 deaths and destruction of much of Chechnya by 1995, according to GlobalSecurity.org. Another 500,000 people were left homeless by the war. Thousands more have been slaughtered or displaced since 1999 when Russia, under then-President Boris Yeltsin and then-Prime Minister Putin, broke its three-year-old armistice with Chechen rebels and imposed an oppressive regime.
The Chechens aren't alone in their suffering. Since taking over as Russia's head of state four years ago, Putin has resuscitated Soviet-style oppression. Political rivals have been jailed or driven from the country. Private companies such as oil giant Yukos have been shaken down. Putin also has cracked down on unfavorable media coverage.
The carnage in Beslan cannot be justified. But Putin and his cronies are not innocent bystanders to the tragedies that have unfolded in Russia. The United States must be wary of aligning itself too closely with the Russian government.
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