Krystyna Kurczab-Redlich, a prominent Polish journalist, spent 14 years in Russia working as a correspondent for various Polish media. After arriving in Moscow in 1990, she quickly immersed herself in the Russian political reality. In this time she frequently traveled to Chechnya, often filming materials there, just like her late friend Anna Politkovskaya.
She has received awards for her journalistic activities, and in 2005, the Helsinki foundation, Amnesty International and the Chechen organization “The Echo of War” nominated her for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Her take on the Russian reality can be found in her two books, Pandrioszka and Banging Your Head Against the Kremlin Wall. Six months ago, both books were translated into Ukrainian. As the author says, unfortunately, the books are still timely — both Russia and its neighbors still go on “banging their heads on the Kremlin wall.”
Recently, Kurczab-Redlich visited Kyiv to meet her Ukrainian readers at the bookstore Ye, as well as to share her views on Russian and European politics.
“We have recently observed a kind of ‘putinization’ of the world’s politics. After the EU became Russia’s economic partner, Europe stopped noticing the violation of human rights and assault on democracy in that country.
“You can easily find information on oppression and suffering in Iran or other countries, but not in Russia. Russia is a taboo country. For instance, bringing up the Chechen problem in European structures is totally impossible. European politicians would rather not interfere with the social and political processes taking place in Russia, even if they are undemocratic and violate human rights — it solves economic problems and facilitates cooperation with Russian leaders.
“The moral bar is way too low in politics. Indeed, the political morals are degrading in Europe. During the Cold War, thousands of Europeans were ready to take to the streets in order to support dissident movement on the Soviet terrain.
“Today, the Russian opposition does not enjoy such support from Europe. We will not see moral politics as long as former Cheka officers are in power, and Western politicians continue to give in,” said Kurczab-Redlich.
She believes that the standards of political journalism are going down, in Poland especially, while journalists’ approach to specific problems has become too superficial. For instance, they will only speak about Russia when it “kicks” Poland somehow, but even in that case Russia means the Kremlin rather than Russians or the opposition. And no channel dares make an honest report on Chechnya.
After September 11, 2001 Vladimir Putin was easily able to paint the Chechens’ struggle for independence as international terrorism, both in Russian minds and internationally, believes the author.
In her eyes, the true Chechen war is unknown to the vast majority of Russians, and it is very difficult to get knowledge about it. The author maintains that the Chechens were most anxious to avoid this war in the first place, and only wanted independence — but not in terms of a different social policy, or a separate currency. It was rather in terms of the right to self-determination.
Few know today that after the first Chechen war was over in 1996, the problem of Wahhabism did not exist in Chechnya. Chechens adhered to secular Islam, and their women did not wear face veils. In fact, Wahhabism, which is contrary to Chechen traditions, appeared only in 1999, and not without some promotion on the part of Russian secret services. The Polish journalist maintains that Chechens did not want a civil war. It was artificially imposed on them.
In Banging Your Head... the pages on the Chechen war and acts of terror in Russia are the most horrible. Her statistics shows that 200,000 Chechens killed in “restoring constitutional order,” were mostly civilians. At the meeting with Ukrainian readers, Kurczab-Redlich gave a detailed account of the act of terrorism at Dubrovka Theater Center:
“The entire Nord-Ost thing was prepared because the Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov had been successfully conducting, via Akhmed Zakhayev, talks in Sweden, Great Britain, and Lichtenstein. He asked European leaders to help organize a dialog with the Kremlin and put an end to the terrorizing of Chechens. Maskhadov himself made several attempts to talk to Putin.
“In October, 2002, 147 members of European parliament demanded a peace treaty be signed with Chechnya. The peace treaty would give Europeans free access to Chechnya. This was not to be allowed. So Nord-Ost suddenly occurs. However, anyone who has at least a superficial idea of Chechen traditions will understand that it was rather a stage act than an act of terrorism.
“Besides, a question suggests itself: if gas was used, why were the terrorists killed, and the possibility to find the masterminds of this act of terrorism was virtually lost?”
“When I arrived in Russia back in 1990, I loved Russian culture. However, with time I started to understand how appalling the Russian political reality was. While European politics is built on something real, in Russia you always see double standards and hideous political intrigue.
“In fact, Russian democracy is only confined to the early years of Boris Yeltsin’s rule. Back then, discussions in the State Duma were still possible, and books were published which spoke the truth about the Second World War.
“Mikhail Khodorkovsky contributed a lot to the development of democracy in Russia. He sponsored films on democracy, NGOs, and he also helped equip village libraries with computers. However, soon all that was suppressed.”
According to Kurczab-Redlich, today the reason for Vladimir Putin’s popularity is the controlled mass media, and the ensuing absence of free information in the country. Moreover, one should not overestimate the prime minister’s ratings — they are largely due to citizens’ fatigue and absence of any alternative.
