LETTER: Conflict in Chechnya

From Dr David Spooner

Sir: The indiscriminate repression of Chechens by Russia may look very similar to the punitive expeditions mounted in the 19th century to secure the so-called Caucasus Line. After all, over a century and a half ago, and based at Fort Grozny, the author Mikhail Lermontov wrote home thus with an account of the battle of the River Valerik:

Imagine, that in the ravine where the fun was, it still smelt of blood an hour afterwards. I've entered into the taste for war, and I'm sure that for anyone used to this powerful experience there are few satisfactions that don't seem cloying.

His Hero of our Time, Pechorin, ironically stood more aloof from the tribal inferiority-superiority syndrome towards what the Russians saw (and still see) as the undifferentiated group of "Circassaians" than the militarised author.

However, today what we are witnessing is not merely a lesson in imperial discipline but a strategy of genocide - one stage further on from the recent ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

Yours sincerely,

David Spooner

Dunfermline, Fife

17 January