…ARSANOV’S EMERGENCE RAISES QUESTIONS

…ARSANOV’S EMERGENCE RAISES QUESTIONS

While Maigov’s position is now more or less clear, another recently self-announced Chechen peacemaker in Moscow seems to occupy a more dubious status. Vakha Arsanov, former vice president of the separatist government, has resurfaced for the first time since 1999. He recently urged the separatist guerrillas not to wage war on their fellow Chechens in the police force of the pro-Moscow administration. Arsanov has also offered his services to the federal authorities as a mediator in peace negotiations.

Commentator Sanobar Shermatova of the weekly Moskovskie novosti dismissed Arsanov’s initiative. “One can say definitively,” she wrote, “that Arsanov is playing an independent game, inasmuch as he was ousted by Maskhadov from the leadership three years ago and enjoys little respect from today’s guerrillas. Some sources say that he is maintaining contacts with Akhmad Kadyrov, with whom he long ago developed good relations. Possibly he has decided that the opportune time has come for him to replace Aslan Maskhadov.”