Chechnya and the Theatre of war (Commentary‪)‬

An anti-terrorist state is taking shape in Russia. The gas attack in the Theatre Na Dubrovke set far-reaching political processes in motion. All of the state's activities are now centred around the war on terrorism. Any criticism of the special services therefore becomes an anti-government act. New State Duma legislation restricts the freedom of the press to cover anti-terrorist operations. It is now forbidden to analyse the actions of law enforcement in such operations, much less to criticize them. This allows the repressive organs of our government to violate human fights and even the laws of the Russian Federation with impunity. After special-forces commandos stormed the Theatre Na Dubrovke early Saturday morning, the authorities proclaimed the operation a complete success. They first announced that the enemy had been destroyed with no losses among the hostages or special forces. Then they mentioned thirty dead. By midday on Saturday the death toll had reached sixty-seven people, and in the evening the Health Ministry officially admitted that 'more than ninety people' had died, after which physicians were forbidden from talking to the press. On Sunday, the number of dead reached 117. The crisis saw an unprecedented government crackdown on the media. The Moskovia television station was taken off the air after broadcasting an interview with a hostage who called for an end to the war in Chechnya. After being warned by the authorities, normally opposition-minded Ekho Moskvy radio toed the official line in its coverage of the hostage crisis. The Chechen web site Kavkaz.org was taken offline. The authorities did in Moscow what they have been doing for more than three years in Chechnya: they blocked the flow of information; they lied and passed off defeat as victory. But what the federal government gets away with in a distant Caucasus republic did not work in Moscow, with dozens of journalists and thousands of witnesses watching.