I would like to stress here that a lasting peace in the Chechen republic and so-called peace talks with the bandits are not the same thing, and I would ask everyone to make no mistake about that.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
One has to work for years and decades, to conduct negotiations, to stand for positions and points of view, to jointly develop a civilized view on the administrative and state organization of Chechnya.
A peace talk is always difficult, always complicated.
I would prefer things to be peaceful and not have conflict.
Chechens are not ethnically or culturally Russian, and have now been fighting for generations to free themselves from Russian rule.
But if Russia is to be part of this larger zone of peace it cannot bring into it its imperial baggage. It cannot bring into it a policy of genocide against the Chechens, and cannot kill journalists, and it cannot repress the mass media.
And this system sorted out the Chechen war in just 20 days. This way, I used the President's power, he didn't use me. It wasn't hard for me to leave - it isn't my scene. I have nothing to do there.
I always said that Wahhabism is unacceptable for the Chechen nation.
Chechens are Muslim, and some share the belief that the West is engaged in a global campaign against Islam.
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.
We want peace and a political solution to the situation in Chechnya.