Ukrainian conflict goes under Chechen scenario, conference in Moscow says

On November 28, Moscow hosted a conference "War in Chechnya: Political Mistakes and War Crimes" dedicated to the 15^th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second Chechen War and the 20^th anniversary of the first Chechen campaign. The conference, organized by the "Yabloko" Party, was attended by politicians, human rights activists, journalists, members of non-governmental organizations and invited guests. The participants compared the events of the military campaigns in Chechnya to the current situation in Eastern Ukraine.

Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the "Yabloko", said at the conference that a significant role in what happened in the Caucasus was played by the cultural-historical processes, which emerged into the surface after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

According to his version, the conflict in Chechnya has played a crucial role in decomposition of the society, and rooted terrorism in Russian as a method of solving problems.

He also drew a parallel of Chechen and Ukrainian events. "What is happening with Ukraine, the rejection of people, the idea that people are just rubbish, is the same as it was 20 years ago," the "Yabloko" leader has concluded.

Tatiana Kasatkina, who represented the HRC "Memorial", also note a similarity of the Chechen conflict with events in Ukraine. "In Donetsk and Lugansk we see the 'pictures' of Chechnya repeated," she said.

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