Shamil Basayev emerges out of Chechnya like a primal force. From a region of such chaos, destroyed cities, horrific abuses of corrupt federals and terrible punishments exacted by rebels driven by a need for horrific revenge, he’s a rock. He is a brutal, brutal man and a fascinating one. Starting out as a soldier, his real skill is for terror, he looms like a comic book supervillain, decimating the pro-Russian population of the north Caucasus and killing indiscriminately in hospitals and schools. He’s an anachronism, seemingly keeping the second Chechen war going single handedly as all it’s other leaders fall fowl to the steady pressure of the Russians.

But suddenly he’s on TV. Channel 4 screened an interview with him in February, in the aftermath of Beslan. He responded to questions sent via middlemen. Now ABC has screened a face-to-face interview conducted by Andrei Babitsky, severely irritating the Russian government.

I find this a bit weird. He’s a man who’s existed in the middle of this kind of ball of chaos which is the mountains of the north Caucasus, lashing out against his enemies once in a while. He seems to have changed tack, at least temporarily, by working with the western media directly. Perhaps this is an attempt to raise his profile before another attack. He has already stated that he is planning more atrocities like Beslan.

The Russians have made a big cock up here. Their conduct in Chechnya has been abhorrent from the beginning. Stalin deported the entire nation to central asia, accusing them of collaborating with the Nazis. The first and second wars are characterised by bitter and bloody fighting, with vicious human rights abuses on both sides (organ farming, kidnapping). The Russians have not been able to paint the clear-cut picture of Chechnya as home of Basayev the terrorist they would like because they themselves are at fault also. Now Basayev is exploiting that. Despite the fact that he is a terrorist by any definition, ABC calls him a guerilla, Channel 4’s epithet was “ jihadi warrior, philosopher, child-killer, freedom fighter.”

On a related point, I read a very interesting piece on research into patterns in suicide bombings. The conclusion: that the vast majority of suicide bombings are conducted by occupied nations against their occupiers.

Perhaps Basayev fits this trend. Perhaps he really is a freedom fighter, just not a noble or a good one, one who is ruthless and barbaric. Though I’m not sure how our image of freedom fighters got so Hollywoodised any way. He said in the Channel 4 interview that if Russian troops leave Chechnya he will stand trial and accept punishment. This has to be the craziest blackmail ever and it’s not really borne out. He was pretty much responsible for restarting the war in Chechnya after an unsteady peace by invading neighbouring Dagestan.

One thing’s for sure, we’ll be hearing more from Basayev. Another act soon? More public demands on the Russians? The mood amongst the Russian people has scarcely changed, Chechnya is and will always be part of Russia to them. Do we simply have to wait for Basayev to fall into one of the many traps set for him until this is over?

Two excellent articles on Basayev: Wikipedia and Sobaka’s dossier.