Sergei Yusupov, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
2014 was a difficult year for Russia, but the economic problems which touch on every family and every citizen cannot be compared with the developments in Ukraine and the echo of the North Caucasus troubles, where people are still dying.
Vestnik Kavkaza hopes that the awful word “war” will disappear next year. Let there be peace in every house. Let there be happy families. Let there be children with fathers, not crying because of politicans’ ambitions.
Today the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria announced the sentence for the case of the attack on Nalchik which happened 9 years ago. Five bandits were sentenced to life imprisonment: Anzor Mashukov, Aslan Kuchmenov, Marat Bapinayev, Eduard Mironov and Rasul Fudayev. Others were sentenced to prison for 7 to 22 years. Thus, justice has been served. The criminals were punished. It is a full stop to the process.
However, it should be noted that ahead of the sentence by the Supreme Court of the KBR, there was an event which didn’t concern the Nalchik case directly.
Opening the traditional annual ceremony of state awarding in the Kremlin, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin gave a clear evaluation of the period: “The outgoing 2014 brought fatal events for Russia and made us realize our responsibility for the country.”
The presidential statement reflects the views of the majority of our citizens: The Russian people realize in what world they live. People realize that Russia has faced a challenge as a state, a sovereign civilization. Citizens of our country understand clearly the threat of the situation over Russia and are ready to resist the threats, despite all difficulties. The President stated about this at his press conference on December 18th.
There is a war against our country. It was declared long ago. Previously the process was masked, but in recent months it has revealed itself clearly, due to the events in Ukraine.
The Nalchik terrorist attack of 2005 is also one of the episodes in the war against Russia. Terrorist groups which are inspired and sponsored by foreign forces try to destabilize the situation in the country, to explode the North Caucasus, to bring the multinational and multi-religious society of the Federal District into conflict. They succeeded in this in the past. But in recent years they have failed.
A public opinion poll recently held by Levada Center shows that order in the state is more important for Russians than human rights. According to responses to non-correctly formulated questions, in recent years the number of people who believe that order is more important in the state than human rights has significantly increased. In April 2008, when the country prospered, 51% of people stood for order and 39% stood for human rights. At the moment the correlation is 56% to 29%. 62% is a historic record in the last 17 years in which Levada Center has been holding its surveys.
The Russians most actively stood for following human rights in 2011 and 2012 (42%). This coincided with activeness of “Bolotnaya opposition” in the country. Results of similar opposition activeness were shown as a result of the Ukrainian events. The Russians saw, evaluated, and made conclusions. But if sociologists directly mean following human rights, the respondents mean a different thing – not human rights, but speculation on the topic.
The developments in the neighboring country give our people serious reason to think about life and make conclusions. One of declared goals of the Kiev Maidan was protection of human rights and freedoms, reaching social justice and laws. What was the result? The power in the country was captured by people who committed military crimes in Donbas; Ukraine turned into one of the most corrupt states in the world; there is chaos in the country, as well as economic collapse, direct nationalism, and hopelessness…
Human rights organizations organized numerous protests, reasonless and biased requests to various humanitarian organizations of Europe on violation of laws against defendants during the whole criminal process on the attack in Nalchik. Positive attitudes to extremist religious structures which justified bandits, terrorists, and murderers were cultivated in the society. Some mass media criticized the activities of law-enforcement structures and the authorities of KBR without any evidence.
The social organization “Mothers of Kabardino-Balkaria Stand for Human Rights”, the Kabardino-Balkaria Republican Social Human Right Center, and some information sources of Runet gambled on sacred things – the feelings of mothers and sons, notions of humanity and justice.
Why did they do this? They wanted to cause a response in the society, to defame our country in the world, to free bandits and murderers. The goal is only one – to destroy Russia.
There is a war. There is targeted and aggressive weakening of our country, attempts to undermine its stability from inside. All methods are fair in war. But we should thank our court and law-enforcement agencies – they didn’t give up. Titanic, toilsome work has been done and the guilt of the criminals was proved.
The sentence was announced, but questions remain, till all terrorists who were involved in the terrorist attack of 2005 are punished. And it will happen inevitably, fairly, under martial laws.
