Filed under: Background
SOAS continues its great diversity of events related to the Caucasus and Central Asia and convened a superb Chechenya conference yesterday.
I could only make it to the last bit of it, as I was racking my brain over the Russkii Yazik before. However, I had the chance to see Oksana Antonenko (who was fascinating), Vanessa Redgrave (who presented a film on Putin’s Russia), and, most importantly, Akhmad Zakaev (here, for the Russian take on him, here, for their quest to hunt him down, and here (Chechnya Times).
The connection between Zakayev and Redgrave: Most of you will know that “in December, 2002, Redgrave paid £50,000 bail for Chechen separatist Deputy Premier and special envoy Akhmed Zakayev, who was accused by Russia of aiding and abetting hostage-takings in the Moscow Hostage Crisis of 2002, and guerrilla warfare against Russia” (Wikipedia).
Muhammad Shishani, Vice-Chair of Chechen World Congress, was also there and held a very weird speech that, in its rhetorics, reminded me of Martin Luther King. After highly scientific elaborations, he looked severely out of place. People couldn’t wait to ask Zakayev questions.
