Washington Post

8 December 1999

Editorial

War Crimes in Grozny

RUSSIAN ARMY officers say they will destroy anyone who has not left Grozny,

the capital of Chechnya, by Saturday. They couch this as a warning to

civilians to decamp. But thousands of people remaining in Grozny are too

old, feeble or wounded to move. Many are cowering in basements, without

heat or electricity, in fear of Russia's constant bombardment; they may not

have seen the leaflets that the Russian military dropped from the air. Even

those who are aware of the ultimatum may decide it is too dangerous to

leave; the bombing continues without pause, and Russian troops on more than

one occasion have massacred civilians who were fleeing as ordered.

This strategy -- to level a city and kill everyone within it -- is not an

acceptable method of war, even within a conflict that may itself be

justifiable. When Serbian forces used disproportionate force against

civilians in Kosovo, an international court of the United Nations indicted

Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes. When Indonesian forces razed

towns and cities in East Timor, the United Nations launched a war crimes

inquiry, which is continuing. Now is the time to begin gathering

information on Russia's tactics in Chechnya, and to let Russia's leaders

and generals know that no one should be immune from prosecution for such

atrocities.

A few world leaders are beginning to put an accurate label on Russia's

methods, although President Clinton and Vice President Gore are not yet

among them. "It's really getting to the point where it's crossing the line

into potential crimes against humanity," Canada's foreign minister, Lloyd

Axworthy, said yesterday. "You could have 30,000 people there -- very old,

disabled, sick, who can't move -- who are subject to major bombing, and so

I think it's very important in the next couple of days that we try to put a

restraint on that." It's telling, and sad for Russian democracy, that the

world leaders who support Russia's actions are dictators, such as those of

China and Belarus.

No outside leader has disputed Russia's right to fight terrorism. Chechen

militants struck into the neighboring province of Dagestan earlier this

fall, at considerable cost of life. Russian officials also blame Chechens,

though without any evidence, for several apartment-building bombings in

Moscow and elsewhere that claimed hundreds of lives. Russia's government

describes the current military campaign in Chechnya as aimed at those

terrorists. But the true aim seems to be more the eradication of a people

than of a band of criminals.