Grozny. A Few Days...

Preface

         Dear Reader,

Accounts of that conflict, provided by the Western media, are controversial and sometimes contradictive. Prior to 9-11-2001, the media emphasized the cruelty with which the military were trying to quell the rebellion. Some of those awful stories didn't hold water, but some were true. After that date, it has often been mentioned that the Russian Government is fighting its battle against international terrorism, that some Al-Quaeda associates have got refuge in the Chechen mountains and that many Chechen warlords had been trained in the Taliban military schools.

Still, many critics of  Russian policies insist that the army is excessively tough and that the suffering of the civilians has been unbearable. The Russian media, on its part, writes a lot about the atrocities against the population carried out by the rebel gangs. As a matter of fact, a considerable portion of the population has left that area and has found refuge in the nearby regions of Russia.

1990…

Well, that was it! My working day was over and it was time to head toward my garage. I was driving there with one thought in my mind: “Hopefully, the day when I shall drive my “Own” car, is not that far away. Sure, it will be neither a fancy Mercedes, nor even a Lada, but rather a tiny Zaporozhets, but still - my own”. “Some day...”

I did understand that it was a kind of shame not to afford a car at the age of 38. What made things worse was that having a car had always been my cherished dream. Anyway, not much could be done about that: cars were highly expensive in the former Soviet Union and in the post-Soviet era they were regarded as a sort of luxury. I am quite a handy man, almost a jack-of-all-trades: I can fix various equipment and appliances with my own hands. Besides being a qualified craftsman, I am a pretty stubborn sort: when necessary, I can work double shifts. I really did enjoy working like a drudge horse: it is a part of my nature. I started my career as a simple worker right after I had finished my compulsory military service. My part-time studies at a technical university helped me to grow from the ranks: from a worker, I was promoted to a technician and then to an engineering position.

(November, 2000)