2024-09-13 06:18:32
The war practices of the occupiers in Ukraine are reminiscent of the war in Chechnya from the 90s of the last century, says Irena Brežná, a Swiss writer and journalist of Slovak origin, in an interview for Aktuálně.cz. “The goal has not changed. The Russians want to break the moral strength of the Ukrainians and deprive them of the most precious thing,” describes the author, whose notes from the Chechen war were recently republished in book form by the Absynt publishing house.
As a journalist who was in the war in Chechnya, what do you experience when you watch the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
It reminds me a lot of Chechnya, especially in terms of the strategy of the Russian army. When I see the occupiers dropping bombs on residential buildings and infrastructure, I immediately remember what they did in Chechnya. They do this by first dropping the bomb, then flying away, paramedics come and start rescuing the wounded. Then the plane returns and drops another bomb. They did exactly that in Chechnya. People who ran out to save the dead bodies for burial were deliberately hit by another bomb. That’s one thing.
What have the Russians been up to all these years?
I think that in Ukraine now they mainly want to demoralize people and torpedo every attempt at rescue. The goal is to break moral strength, break people and deprive them of the most precious thing. In Chechnya, where they practice Islam, it was very important for the family to bury their members. When the planes dropped the bombs, people couldn’t even get to the bodies, and then the dogs came and gnawed on the bodies. It was a deliberate humiliation.
Another thing that shocks me is the existence of concentration camps that were already established by the Russian army in Chechnya under Boris Yeltsin. These camps, which have been gradually expanded and perfected under the rule of Vladimir Putin, essentially function as torture chambers. In Chechnya, terrorists and resistance fighters were supposed to “filter” there. For example, people were stripped naked to check for gunshot wounds, tortured and killed to make a business of selling the bodies. And the occupiers also set up these filter camps in Ukraine and didn’t even name them. This shows that there is absolutely no awareness of war crimes in Russian society.
The seventy-four-year-old Swiss writer and journalist of Slovak origin emigrated to Switzerland with her parents in 1968. She studied Slavic studies, philosophy and psychology at the University of Basel.
She worked as a journalist for German-language media and exile radio stations, as a psychologist or interpreter. She was involved in the organization Amnesty International for the release of Soviet and Czechoslovakian dissidents and was also a war correspondent in Chechnya. For her texts, she received many awards, including Pribin’s Cross II. class, which President Zuzana Čaputová awarded her for spreading Slovak culture in the world the year before.
The author, who writes mainly in German, has published ten books. Most recently, the Absynt publishing house published her notes from the Chechen war called Vlčice ze Sernovodsk in a Czech translation by Jan Mattuš. This is the second, supplemented edition.
Photo: archive of Irena Brežná
There is a lot of talk about the fact that Russian soldiers who started, for example, at the non-commissioned level in Chechnya, are now commanders in Ukraine. Does it manifest itself somehow? Is this war any more brutal?
I believe so. I have the same information that they practiced cruelty in Chechnya. My Chechen girlfriends always warned me: “Watch out for him, he’s a mercenary, and these are rookies.” They were the kind of guys we see now in Ukraine. When we saw a dead body in Chechnya, the Chechens always said, “Watch out! Don’t touch,” and turned it over with a big stick. The Russian military attached explosives to corpses to kill their loved ones when they tried to mourn them.
The same tactics are now being used in Ukraine. They plant explosives on the doors of looted houses, which explode when people return and open them. I relive it and it is confirmed that this was a planned tactic. It wasn’t taken so seriously back then.
What do you mean?
Although Chechnya is a small nation with less than a million inhabitants, and it is a small country, the war in Ukraine has a much larger dimension. Back then, everyone was afraid and showed servility towards the Russian Empire – they thought we had to get along with it somehow. At that time, we journalists went to German, Italian and French politicians, who listened to us, but said: “What can we do? We cannot isolate Russia.”
You often write about a kind of indifference of the West in your book. Do you feel that we have already woken up?
Yes, the war in Ukraine finally broke that attitude. At that time, however, it was not possible, because even the population of Western democracies would not agree to this, that Russia would be sanctioned too much. Until now.
Why do you think it took so long for European politicians to understand that Russia’s strategy is not changing? We have long watched as Russia is likely planning a major invasion of Ukraine. Why did we not realize where it could lead with regard to the war in Chechnya?
At the beginning, when the Russian colonial war in Chechnya began in December 1994, the first reports of the heroic Chechen resistance appeared. But then it turned upside down and Russia put a lot of effort into propaganda to first say they were bandits and then Islamic fundamentalists. The Russians simply took advantage of the fact that the Chechens were a small Muslim nation.
And when the joint war against terrorism began after the September 11 attacks in New York, it was difficult to talk about the fact that it was a colonial war. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan used this war to promote their fundamentalism, so-called Wahhabism.
Cover of the book Vlčice ze Sernovodsk. | Photo: Absynt publishing house
I remember when I met Shamil Basayev, who over time became the most wanted terrorist. In the beginning he was a fairly normal young Soviet man, then he went to Pakistan, grew a long beard and became an Islamist. Well, then he declared a caliphate in Dagestan and the entire resistance became radicalized. And talking about Chechnya suddenly became even more difficult.
Then came Ukraine. It started with the annexation of Crimea and then Donbas, and we saw it gradually escalate. The audacity that took place on February 24, 2022 opened everyone’s eyes.
You have been aware of what Russia is about since the Chechen war. So when the Russians invaded Ukraine, were you surprised? Until the last moment, much of the West thought the Russians were just threatening. But then it happened and everyone was shocked.
Yes, I have to admit that I was also surprised. I even have a few Russian friends, for example the writer Mikhail Shishkin, who lives in Switzerland. I visited him about two weeks before the invasion and he said that nothing would happen, that it was impossible. When I saw that Ukrainians wanted to fight, it reminded me of Chechnya and where it led there – to collaboration, complete destruction of the country, ecological pollution and dead or tortured people in every family.
Thank God, Ukraine now has significant international support, Chechnya never had such help. The Chechens had to figure it out on their own. When they had any weapons, they mostly got them by looting them from Russian soldiers. In some cases, Russian soldiers even sold their Kalashnikovs to Chechens when they were hungry and impoverished.
When you were in the war, you were accepted by Chechen women who described to you what they were going through and how they perceived the conflict that destroyed their homes and families. Can you recall any fond memories of the time you spent with them?
When I first started going there, foreign journalists and humanitarian workers were not allowed into Chechnya. We were waiting for a bus in the village of Slepcovská in Ingushetia, and the Chechen women scolded us for not going there, for just standing there when we didn’t even know what was going on there.
The first thing I noticed there was that you couldn’t see any men because they were in great danger. Every Chechen, whether he was 16 or 60 years old, was automatically a fighter or terrorist for the Russians.
Then, when the bus that went to the bombed village in Sernovodsk finally arrived, I approached the women and told them to give me a scarf. I was wearing a skirt, which I purposely put on to look like a Chechen woman, and I told them I wanted to go with them. They protected me, explained what I should do and how to behave.
And that was the moment when they accepted you among themselves…
Yes. Suddenly I was completely dependent on the help of these women who were returning to their homes to find out if their pets had survived the week-long bombardment so that they could be watered and fed. When I returned with them to their village, I became very close to them and they appreciated it.
That’s when I realized that I have a certain mission, that I have to write and speak about it. I was the only journalist who got to this village, and I immediately called a press conference in Ingushetia where I talked about it, and later in Moscow.
In a photo from March 1996, Russian tanks are on their way to the village of Sernovodsk. | Photo: Valeri Ščekoldin
Why did you originally decide to go there?
When perestroika started and I had the opportunity to travel to Russia for the first time, my first reporting trip was to dissidents who were setting up human rights organizations in Moscow. It was then that I met Andrej Mironov, he accompanied Western journalists to crisis areas. When the aggression against Chechnya, which was seeking independence, began, Andrej went there and encouraged me to join him. He told me about the fighting spirit of the Chechens and I finally agreed and went with him.
This decision was not accidental, it was a logical continuation of my life and work so far. From the very beginning, I had the feeling that this is not just some local conflict, but that serious war crimes are taking place there, which should not go unnoticed. It was a question of humanity and justice for me – I couldn’t just watch people suffer and die there without the world knowing about it.
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