From Kommunistisk Politik, No. 22, November 9, 2002
It was a shameful act that took place in Copenhagen when the Danish government
allowed the police to arrest Chechen Vice President in exile, Akhmed Zakayev.
The arrest came after Danish police had received several Russian requests for
arresting Zakayev, who was the special envoy of President Aslam Maskhadov at
the Chechen world congress (held October 28-29 in Copenhagen, translator's
note).
The Russian government is accusing Zakayev of being behind the hostage-taking
in Moscow, which came to an end as Russian security forces killed more than
120 hostages and about 40 Chechen rebels in a grotesque massacre.
The Danish government officially refused the Russian pressure trying to make
Denmark cancel the world congress by stating that there is democracy in Denmark,
and that people can hold any congress they want. It also refused that there
were "terrorists" at the congress. Now, the police, allegedly independently,
have arrested the most prominent participant at the congress. In plain Danish,
the attitude of the Danish government is called lying, hypocrisy and double
standards.
It was the Russian threat of not only breaking off relations with the Danish
parliament, but also of resorting to economic sanctions against Danish companies
in the lucrative Russian market which gave the green light for the arrest of
Zakayev. Putin's scheduled visit to Denmark in November in connection with the
Danish EU Presidency has already been cancelled and moved to Brussels instead.
The Chechen people are waging a just struggle for independence. For eight years,
reactionary Russia under Yeltsin and Putin has been waging a brutal war trying
to put down the Chechen resistance. From their own geopolitical and economic
interests, the US and the EU have been supporting that war, directly and indirectly.
After the initiation of the US "War on Terror", Putin has also declared
"War on Terror" and demanded support for the brutal slaughter of the
Chechens, which has cost more than 100,000 lives and turned Chechnya into a
ruin.
Russia has refused all attempts of finding a peaceful solution at the negotiation
table, insisting, as the US, on its "right" to militarily suppress
the Chechen uprising.
By arresting Zakayev, the Danish government has, in an extremely dirty manner,
chosen the side of Great Russian reaction, the main responsible for the bloodshed
going on in the former Soviet Union. The Danish government has made it clear
to the world that Denmark will not be a place, where world conferences of resistance
and liberation movements can be held.
The Chechen government in exile and the Danish Support Committee for Chechnya,
who was hosting the congress, have both protested about the arrest of Zakayev
to the police and authorities and demanded his release. This has been refused,
and now Russia is demanding his transfer to a Russian prison for "legal
proceedings" and, in all probability, a death sentence. At the same time,
international protests against Zakayev's extradition are getting more and more
powerful.
The world congress carried the heading: "World Chechen Congress - for
a peaceful solution to the Russian-Chechen conflict".
Big interests are at stake in this conflict, especially oil interests. Different
capitalist clans, Russian and American, are fighting each other. But no matter
what: the Russians must leave Chechnya! The genocide must be stopped! And
Denmark shall not extradite anybody!