National Question in Russia Is a Question of National Security
When during the events in the theater center in Dubrovka an announcement was received that the terrorists had separated the Ukrainians from other spectators of Nord-Ost, hope appeared that, for our fellow-citizens at least, the terror would finish earlier. But the invaders of the House of Culture changed their minds. All the hostages, as well as our Russian Ukrainian compatriots suffered. Oleksandr Rudenko-Desniak, representative of the Russian Federation’s National Cultural Autonomy for Ukrainians in Russia gave The Day his assessment of the most recent events in Moscow and his prognosis of possible aftereffects.
“In your opinion, what were the events concerning the hostages for Moscow?”
“Intense shock.”
“How do you assess the work of the mass media during these events?”
“Representatives of the media behaved exactly like all people who worked there. That is from the shock they tried to proceed with performance of their real duty to report about everything that was happening in the concert hall.”
“What do you think about the restrictions of the range of information during the operation to free the hostages?”
“At first it was particularly noticeable that there was a certain one- sidedness in the information given. It is not always easy to determine how to explain it — a feature of the operation or playing safe. Nevertheless, I want to say that on Monday there was already rather a different key. In particular, very different assessments of what happened were mentioned on the TVS channel, which, as I understand, did not concur with official reports.”
“Does this occurrence give reason to expect toughening registration for visitors including Ukrainians?”
“Maybe, I am not excluding this option. The vice mayor of Moscow appeared on TVS. He spoke about toughening this procedure. As for my narrow point of view, I’m not sure that the toughening of registration procedures will affect the safety of citizens.”
“And does it call for a generally hardened treatment of foreigners? “
“I suppose so. Because just when the tragedy turned around in the theater center, the press reported that skinheads had looted a market in Chekhov, a town near Moscow. Judging by news information, a group of strong young people burst into the market and started to beat people from the Caucasus. Russian sales people tried to protect those who worked there (there is no antagonism between them), and only later did the police start to act. It is not impossible that these incidents will continue.”
“The Chechens are now called animals in the Russian press and other unprejudiced names, and with regard to other nationalities? Will attitudes change toward them?”
“I don’t think attitudes will change towards Ukrainians. As for some attacks in the press, then this is a very difficult problem. Thus President Putin was forced to warn them against a display of xenophobia, chauvinism, and anti-Caucasian sentiments. He separately warned the Ministry of Internal Affairs about responsibility for similar incidents.”
“We are assured that if it were not for the assault, then there would be many more victims. What do you think about this?”
“If there really were explosive equipment in operation in the theater center then the catastrophe would have been more significant. On the other hand, now there are many arguments about the substance that was used for the takeover. According to specialists, under the circumstances it could not have led to such tragic consequences. Here the closure of the premises played a role, and of course the hostages were extremely weak. Therefore the substance acted on them in such a terrible way.”
“And what do you think of the announcement by official Russia about the World Chechen Congress in Denmark?”
“I think that in this situation the reaction of official Russia was natural. Because any display of movement in the Chechen direction would call for a sharp reaction.”
“What is your prognosis of the formation of national attitudes within Russia and beyond its borders?”
“This problem has no beginning and no end. In Russia there are 200 nationalities registered. Ten years ago during the post-Soviet euphoria, we passed a resolution at our meetings, the idea of which was that without a resolution on the national question in Russia, a normal civilized democratic society could not be built. I don’t think that today this idea has lost its urgency. I repeatedly took part in different public and parliamentary meetings and there I expressed my extreme point of view. I said that the conditions in the present day country in which we live, the national question is a question of national security. The harmonization of international relations can count on fundamental factors strengthening stability in the state and society.”
