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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Basayev interview with Kavkaz Center |
| 2006-01-13 |
| Check out the photo of him with Doku Umarov at the website. This is actually the most Islamist I've heard Basayev in awhile, I guess he's given up trying to appeal to a Western audience. he First Deputy Prime Minister of the government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, head of the Military Committee - Majlis ul-Shura - and Military Amir of the Mujahideen of the Caucasus Abdallah Shamil Abu-Idris (AKA Shamil Basayev) has given an exclusive interview to the Kavkaz Center agency in which he touches upon the recent events in Kabardino-Balkaria, as well as the situation in the Caucasus. Q: Moscow and the local puppet authorities are making vigorous attempts to impose their version of the events in Nalchik. In the Russian and western press all kinds of reasons are being put forward for what happened, from a Muslim rebellion to the laundering of money of "international terrorists". What were the objectives and the tasks of the assault operation in Nalchik on 13 October? Basayev: Bismillahi-Rahmani-Rahim! (In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful!) Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, Who made us Muslims and blessed us with Jihad on His Straight Path! Peace and blessings to Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him), His Family, his disciples and all of those who follow him till the Judgement Day! And then: Alhamdulillah (Praise to God), by the mercy of Allah, the Mujahideen of the Caucasian front carried out an assault operation against the Russian occupation forces and their national-traitor stooges. The purpose of this operation was to strike at the enemy. This indeed was also partially a rebellion of the Muslims of the Kabarda-Balkarian Republic (KBR) to liberate Nalchik from the infidels and hypocrites who were driven to this by Rusnya's (derogatory term for Russia) neo-imperialist, satanic policy. Two years ago, I was in Kabarda-Balkaria and I failed to find any mutual understanding among the majority of the Muslims of the KBR, and this spring they themselves summoned me there. The main achievement of this operation was the conscious fulfilment by the Muslims of the KBR of their Muslim duty (fard-ayn) to the Almighty and the fulfilment of their duty to wage a holy war for their faith, freedom and honor. Q: The Kremlin is particularly grieved by the fact that local people who, as has always been claimed, were loyal to Moscow, took part in the assault operation in the town. Many commentators are speaking in this connection about a strategy of extending the war which has been taken up by the Chechen leadership. Others claim that the extension of the war is of an objective nature and does not depend on the wishes of either Moscow or Jokhar (Grozny). To what extent are these appraisals true? Basayev: We adopted this strategy of extending the holy war at the majlis (council) in 2002 and, Praise to God, this is being successfully implemented. We are also being helped to a large extent in this matter by the Rusnya leadership and their local puppets. Whatever they may say verbally, and whatever labels they like to pin on us, they are showing by their own actions that this war is being waged not against the freedom of the Chechens but against all the Muslims of Rusnya. Muslims have no freedom of worship, mosques are being destroyed and shut down and Muslims are being subjected to abuse and torture because they wear beards, do not drink spirits and do not smoke. Even pregnant Muslim women are being abused and beaten because they wear shawls and dress in a modest way. The warlike Satanists, led by the horned (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, are running a show in the Kremlin and at the helm is the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) which is being served by the staff of the FSB (Federal Security Service) and the GRU (Main Counter-Intelligence Department). The leaders of the ROC have the same attitude to Christianity as the muftis appointed by the Kremlin have towards Islam. That is why, in the autumn, at a session of the Majlis of the Caucasian front in the town of Cherkessk, a decision was taken to recognize the ROC as an extremist organization which is at the forefront of Rusnya's colonialist imperialist policy and to ban its activity in the Caucasus until the end of the war, and to put a stop to the ROC's extremist activities. The expansion of the war is at the moment of a subjective nature and is dependent on the wishes of Jokhar and Moscow. Rusnya has an opportunity to end the war before we cross the Volga which, incidentally, we plan to do in the summer of 2006. Q: The question of the two sides' losses and the numbers of Mujahideen who stormed military objectives in the town is a separate one. Moscow and its local puppet authorities claim that from 70 to 90 Mujahideen were killed during the fighting in Nalchik. They put their own losses at 35 troops and police. At the same time, the losses among innocent civilians numbered 14. Nevertheless, many of the inhabitants of Nalchik are saying that the special services are trying to present dead civilians as Mujahideen. Does the Mujahideen command have any final figures for the number of losses? Basayev: Some 217 Mujahideen took part in this operation from our side and we were unable to bring in another 150 Mujahideen who had to close the main crossroads in the center of Nalchik. We were unable to bring them into the town from the Kashkhatau direction because the roads through Khasanya and Belaya Rechka were closed after one of our groups had been discovered by the infidels and hypocrites in the morning of 13 October, and we were unable to send vehicles after them. Our losses numbered 37 dead Mujahideen. A quarter of the Mujahideen who earlier were presumed dead turned out to be alive. Losses among the infidels and hypocrites were "one-and-a-half dead and one very slightly wounded". (According to the figures of the Caucasian front headquarters, the enemy's overall losses were over 300 dead and wounded - Kavkaz-Tsentr) As far as innocent civilians are concerned, it is no secret that Rusnya's power-wielding structures had a specific plan to arrest the Mujahideen. In Chechnya, for example, if any of the occupation power-wielding structures had failed to arrest or kill a single Mujahideen in the course of a week, then part of their wage bonus would be deducted. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that there were so many "dead and arrested Mujahideen" in Nalchik. That is precisely why, in my name, they declare all kinds of "flaming summers", (although I made no such statements) and then "successfully avert" them. Of course, tactically, we suffered a defeat in this operation, because we were unable to achieve the goal we set ourselves. But, strategically, this was a great victory for us, even if all the 400 Mujahideen brought in to this operation had died. In this connection, so that our enemies should understand this, one may quote the words of the Spartan King Leonidas which he said to his enemies in the battle of Thermopylae: "We lost the battle, but you lost the war." God willing, the Rusists have lost this war! Q: At first people were sceptical about the formation of the Caucasian Front. Most Russian commentators spoke about "the propaganda of the militants" and claimed that the Mujahideen did not have the strength for serious military operations. Such claims are no longer being made now. Another question is being asked in the press - what is the Caucasian Front? Is its formation not a sign of a radical change in the Mujahideen's strategy in the Caucasus? What is the vector of this strategy? Basayev: Virtually all those who were not properly acquainted with the real situation were distrustful of the formation of the Caucasian front in May of this year. Some of our "well-wishers" were saying that Sheikh Abdul-Khalim was infatuated by a virtual war. Even (Radio Liberty journalist Andrey) Babitskiy grinned in disbelief when I told him that I had held a council meeting in Nalchik where the Caucasian Front had been formed and on the way home I nearly drowned crossing the Terek. But we are fighting not in order to prove or show anything to anyone. We are working, through God's mercy, turning our plans into reality and not being distracted by the squealing of pigs. The Caucasian Front is a structural unit of the CRI armed forces, and its formation is not the sign of a radical change in the Mujahideen's strategy in the Caucasus. It is simply the next step in extending the Jihad. The recent decision by the Majlis of the Caucasian Front to destroy the colonists who are cooperating with Rusnya's occupation structures throughout the Caucasus may be termed a change in strategy. But as far as a radical change of strategy is concerned, in this respect the Muslims of the Caucasus are feeling a stronger need to pool together their efforts to liberate themselves from Rusnya's colonialist imperial oppression. And more and more Muslims are raising the question of the proclamation of a single Imam of the whole Caucasus, although already today Sheikh Abdul-Khalim is virtually the imam of the Caucasus, because the Mujahideen of the whole Caucasus have sworn an oath of loyalty to him. We are planning to carry out in spring 2006 a great unifying Majlis on this question, and also on the question of forming a Shura of Alims of the Caucasus. Q: What is the military situation in Chechnya? Basayev: I left Nalchik on the night of 15 October and then visited Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya. I met with the amirs of most of the sectors, visited many Mujahideen bases and was satisfied with their preparations for winter. I spent a week in the mountains with Dokku Umarov, had a pleasant stay with him, and also held a council of the southwest front with the participation of amirs of the Ingush and Ossetian sectors of the Caucasian Front whom I took with me when I visited Dokku. At the council we discussed certain matters regarding organization. After that I visited a number of sectors of the eastern front and met my naib, Amir Nurdin, and the amirs of a number of sectors. By God's mercy, the situation is good and all units have made a successful transition to the winter period. Then I visited our Supreme Amir Sheikh Abdul-Khalim and reported to him on the situation throughout the Caucasus. We spent a week discussing and agreeing on our plans of action for 2006. We also decided not to focus special attention on the pig show called "parliamentary elections in Chechnya" because, as our Mujahideen say, "pigs may grunt - the Jihad goes on". I was in Jokhar at the time of this pig show and I saw the so-called voting on the deserted streets of the city. In Kokhar, the city center had been closed off because, they said, (Russian Interior Minister Rashid) Nurgaliyev was presenting awards to the hypocrites "for successfully staging" this show. The Rusists are allocating huge sums and materials to encourage and keep the hypocrites on a lead, pinning all kinds of trinkets on their chests in the form of crosses called "Order of courage". And the infidels are pleased with their medals and hypocritically say: "This is not a cross, but a plus sign." In Nalchik we could see clearly for the first time how weak and vulnerable Rusnya is when we noticed how the Rusists were hurrying to bring troops into the town from all over Rusnya, and still they do not have enough of them. Putin's feigned toughness may be explained by Rusnya's weakness and its fear of the Mujahideen, and this also explains the cruelty and outrages being committed by the Rusists and their stooges in the Caucasus. But whatever they do, it will all be in vain, God willing! Everywhere they go, the Mujahideen are successfully crushing the enemy and we will continue to destroy them until full victory. The Jihad is expanding and the only difficulty we are experiencing now is with funding and media coverage of our Jihad. But God willing we will solve these issues by the spring. And may Allah help us in His straight path! Allahu Akbar! |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |