It was not an ordinary conversation. According to well-informed sources, Sergei Lavrov called his Polish counterpart Adam Rotfeld in connection with recent statements made by Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexander Checko. The Polish foreign minister expressed regrets about the actions of his subordinate.
Mr. Checko made a statement calling the elimination of Aslan Maskhadov, one of the Chechen terrorist leaders, "not only a crime, but a serious mistake and a political folly."
It is a strange statement, indeed. Elimination of one of the most dangerous international terrorists is a crime? Elimination of a person who, for example, ordered Shamil Basaev to attack the territory of Daghestan, a republic neighboring with Chechnya in order to start the building of a Caliphate from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea is a big mistake? Ridding the world of a terrorist whose name is connected with hostage taking on Dubrovka and killing of children in Beslan is a political folly?
Moscow, certainly, protested the statement of the Polish diplomat, but was not sure if there had been some sort of a mistake. After all, a state official of a country that openly announces its willingness to participate in the fight against international terrorism, that voted for relevant UN resolutions and pledged to observe their provisions should have never made such statements. The Russian leadership decided to show patience and wait for the clarification of the situation.
In the conversation between Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Rotfeld, it has become clear that the Polish minister was absent from Warsaw at the time when Mr. Checko made the statement and the words of the spokesperson, according to the minister, did not represent the official position of Warsaw. Poland regrets the incident, Russia will keep informing its Polish colleagues about the development of the situation in the Northern Caucasus, etc.
It should be noted, though, that the outcome of the incident has not been sensational. After all the officials representing the official position of a state could not say anything else because they have to conduct their activities in accordance with the rules of international law. Drawing parallels with the criminal law, to call elimination of an extremely dangerous terrorist a crime should not be left unpunished.
The matter is Mr. Checko, as a private person, apparently said what he really thought. How could it happen to a citizen of a civilized country in the center of Europe? How many other Europeans supported this morally wrong position recently and who is to blame for it? Those who attempted to convince European public opinion that Maskhadov was not an ordinary murderer, but a special one and, therefore, we have to conduct negotiations with him? And what would these Europeans say if somebody tried to convince the police in their countries to reach mutual understanding and common points with some of the most dangerous criminals or terrorists of the Old World?
