Yes, life in Chechnya so far looks more like a life after a natural disaster.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'd been to a number of war zones before in my life, but I had never been in one as terrifying as Chechnya.
Ever since studying in Russia as a college student, I had been in a long-distance, one-sided love affair with Chechnya's remarkable history, culture and rugged natural beauty.
Chechnya is part and parcel of the Russian Federation.
I'm sure corruption in Chechnya is minimal.
We want peace and a political solution to the situation in Chechnya.
The people have already determined Chechnya's status at the referendum - it is a unit of the Russian Federation. Its political status is not to be discussed any more.
The Chechnya problem is a centuries-old problem. The thing is that today, fundamentalists and terrorists are exploiting those centuries-old problems to accomplish their own objectives that have nothing to do whatsoever with the interests of Chechnya.
I read all of the nonfiction that I could find on Chechnya, and all the while, I was searching for a novel that was set there. I couldn't find a single novel written in English that was set in the period of the two most recent Chechen wars.
I didn't know a single person who had ever been there. I wasn't even sure how to spell Chechnya.
Criminals were coming to Chechnya from all over the world - they did not have a place in their own countries. But they could live perfectly well in Chechnya.