Sergey Snegov: why does UNO leave Chechnya

Representatives of humanitarian organisations escape from Chechnya. The other day “Medicins Sans Frontiers” and some other international organisations claimed that they recalled their employees from the republic. An official representative of UNO said today that the United Nations interrupted its activity in the territory of Chechnya. UNO and other organisations stopped to render assistance to the population of the republic in the interests of security. Judging from numerous statements, they realised all the difficulty and the danger of their profession after the employee of “Medicins Sans Frontiers” Kenneth Gluck was kidnapped. The situation is paradoxical: at the beginning of the counter-terrorists operation international humanitarian organisations had been striving for going to Chechnya. When they were not allowed to go there, great scandals burst. Now the “humanitarians”, on the contrary, are urgently leaving the dangerous republic. We wonder if they found out that it was rather dangerous in Chechnya only after Gluck had been captured. Or maybe humanitarian organisation suppose that their employees have a kind of immunity to bullets and slave-traders? In the epoch of the first Chechen campaign some journalists wore black T-shirts marked with large letters: “Don’t shoot! I’m a journalist”. Apparently, they hold the same opinion. But bullets often hit the centre of this inscription. It is absurd to think that a read cross, pictured at the car, or a blue UN emblem is a panacea. The information about the release of another Russian hostage is not a surprise for anybody. But as soon as an American was taken a prisoner in Chechnya, the world “humanitarians” arranged the demonstrative exodus from the republic, in the interests of security. But it would be better to stay at home in these interests, instead of going to the hot spot.