The Putin wing represents the interests of the Russian oligarchs, who are not prepared to share the loot with foreign investors. Nor are they prepared to accept subordination to US imperialism. Putin’s aim is very simple: rebuild Russia’s military strength, regain control – in so far as is possible – of the former republics of the USSR and its former satellites, and force the West into recognising Russia as a major player in world politics.
The Kosovo war was a turning point for Russia because it cruelly revealed the extent to which Russia had fallen behind the USA in purely military terms. How could it be otherwise? Ten years of economic collapse meant the destruction of a large part of Russia’s industrial and technological base. Without the necessary productive investment, Russia could not maintain its powerful military machine. And now it was threatened by the rise of American global power as never before. The greed and arrogance of US imperialism was reflected, not only by advancing NATO up to the borders of Russia, or the cruel bombing of Iraq and Yugoslavia, but also by its constant manoeuvring in the Caucasus – a vital area from Russia’s point of view.
The war in Chechnya had a number of different causes, not all of them related to global and strategic considerations. Nevertheless, the desire of the Russian military elite to send a signal to Washington – thus far, and no further! – was certainly one of the elements in the situation. The struggle for control of the Caucasus and Central Asia was to play a prominent role in determining relations between Russia and America.
The series of bloody bomb atrocities in Moscow and other Russian cities were the work of elements inside the regime or the State Security forces themselves, or any other combination of the same elements. The slaughter of innocent working class Russians caused a wave of fury that was cleverly manipulated by the media and the government to whip up war fever. This is not the first time in Russian history that a regime in crisis attempted to save itself through a ‘victorious little war’.
With the aid of the mass media, Putin used the Chechen question demagogically to whip up nationalist sentiment. The Russian army occupied Grozny and the other cities. But the brutal use of indiscriminate air and artillery bombardment, and the clumsy and heavy-handed treatment of the population played into the hands of the rebels, who launched a guerrilla war that dragged on for a long time, claiming a large number of Russian and Chechen victims.
The brutal treatment of the population provided the Chechen rebels with a steady supply of new recruits, they were supplied with arms and money from Saudi Arabia and supported by mercenaries from Afghanistan. In the end, Russia succeeded in imposing its will on a broken and shattered country, but a dreadful price had to be paid both by the people of Russia and Chechnya.