Eighty two percent of the republic's residents see its future only in the political and legal environment of Russia, said Sergey Khaikin, Social Marketing Institute director and Higher School for Economics professor, one of the few sociologists working in Chechnya.
Polls have shown that most residents feel the necessity of forming legitimate bodies of state authority-parliament, local legislature and executive bodies. Thus, Edi Isaev, spokesman for Chechnya's mission under the president of the Russian Federation said: "Our main gain was the referendum of March 23, 2003 when Chechnya determined its status as being part of Russia and elected its legitimate president. In the opinion of Andarbek Yandarov, chairman of the World Congress of Chechen Diaspora, this means that Chechnya is ready to accept peace, though no adequate democratic mechanism has been formed. Therefore it is parliamentary elections that are required.
Dealing with solutions for the Chechnya issue, Duma deputy Akhmar Zavgaev from Chechnya urged enhancing the government prestige. The republic wants no sops and is prepared to handle its internal problems if legitimate instruments are available. And together with Moscow, the republic is now busy working toward this end. Dmitry Kozak, added Zavgaev, the president's plenipotentiary in the South Federal district, wields unlimited powers while a special commission in the State Duma is authorised to form constitutional bodies and the law-enforcement system. Zavgaev looks at it as no easy task: the Chechnya conflict has led to a serious shortage of personnel for manning law-enforcement bodies, above all the ministry of the interior. This applies to other spheres as well. Several generations of Chechens were deprived of the possibility to receive a vocational training in the republic and beyond its confines.
Therefore Moscow and the Chechen leadership see their priority today in training new personnel for all industries as well as civil servants. Round-table participants also spoke about unemployment as one of Chechnya's main troubles today: of the 570,000 able bodied population, only 150,000 are employed. It is only recently that there have been certain shifts in meeting the domestic market's demand for labourforce, namely by setting up and restoring industrial infrastructure facilities.
Polls have also indicated that unemployment has become one of Chechnya's chief concerns. Says Khaikin: " When asked two years ago, in 2002, about what should be done to make life better in Chechnya, the respondents would give such prevailing answers as 'to withdraw Russian troops, to stop the war and to cease killing people.' But now people are inclined to ask for a job, in the first place. In experts' view, this is another sign of peaceful rehabilitation.
There is the widespread fear among all the strata of the population that the conflict can be resumed, according to round table participants. The assassination of Chechnya's President Akhmad Kadyrov on May 9, 2004 forced many to question the durability of the government. This is why the Chechens are pinning hopes on the prospect of setting up capable bodies of authority.
The Chechens, being tired of this war, are willing to do everything possible to bring life to normal. Independence of Chechnya is the requirement of 14-16 percent of the population, according to the polls. "This does not mean that these people necessarily share the views of the terrorists," said Khaikin, "They do not want to be separated from Russia by barbed wire-it is just that they favour independent economic construction." "It is very important that their opinion too should be taken into account in the process of Chechnya's rehabilitation, including the revival of political institutions. It is quite possible to find a common language with these people," claims Khaikin.
Chechen participants in the round table discussion admitted the necessity of reconciliation within Chechen society. "All the conflicting sides in Chechnya should come to terms today," notes Suleiman Autaev, deputy plenipotentiary under the president of the Russian Federation. "People who have sidetracked and are not stained with blood like Basaev and Maskhadov ought to be distinguished from criminals and terrorists." Only seven percent of the polled assume that all the participants in the resistance movement without exception should be persecuted.
However, most Chechens, like the participants in the round-table discussion, think that one has to think about the future rather than to square accounts. As to the past, it should be just commemorated to avoid a repetition.
