CHANNEL4 DISPATCHES PRES. CHECHNYA: THE DIRTY WAR PART 2 OF 3
Following the Dispatches Crew on the Beslan school siege, reporters Mariusz Pilis and Marcin Mamon travel to neighbouring Chechnya, one of the most dangerous places on earth, to report on what life is like after more than a decade of Chechen terrorism and Russian repression. Filmed over the course of nine months, the film reveals that what started as a separatist movement in 1994 has now become synonymous with terrorism.
The creators of film saved up the biggest bombshell for the end. After complaining about the fact that the West no longer supports the Chechen resistance, Doku Umarov declared that from now on the war will be conducted by Chechen fighters using different methods. "We will now divide the regions of Russia between the commanders, so that this commander will deal with the western regions, this – with the Siberian regions, this – with the eastern ones. We will now set this work into implementation."
"Maskadov's death”, said the film’s presenter, “convinced the leadership of fighters that it would be expedient to transfer the war to Russia’s economic centres. This solution was communicated to all fighters who were located outside the territory of Chechnya."
And at the very end of the film the presenter drew this conclusion: "President Putin was able to convince the West of the fact that Chechnya is Russia’s internal problem and that the West has no right to interfere. At the same time he says that it is part of global war with terrorism. What began as a fight for the independence of a small republic may go far beyond its boundaries. This war now helps to feed the wider movement of an Islamic Jihad in the world, which threatens both the West and Russia.
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