IS DAGESTAN’S STABILITY IN PERIL?

Gadzhi Makhachev, an elected deputy to the Russian State Duma from Dagestan and a leader of the Avar people, warned in an interview that the Chechen conflict was beginning politically to destabilize Dagestan (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, May 26). “You know,” he remarked, “not long ago a helicopter fired at a settlement in the Gumbetovsky district of Dagestan, and a young boy was killed. The military announced that it was not their helicopter. If these drunken sorties continue, and those guilty of such crimes are not brought to justice, then we could lose Dagestan…. Colonel Budanov, who killed that Chechen girl, is not being tried in Chechnya…. As long as he is glorified in [Russia] and greeted with flowers, we will not bring order to Chechnya and will not find understanding in Chechen society.”