18 May 2000
Just before the long-drawn-out May holidays – this year combined with the "inauguration" of the new President49 – Putin and Prime Minister Kasyanov received a report on Grozny. The government had sent a commission to investigate the state of the Chechen capital, and it had worked very hard and rapidly to produce this document. Albert Marshev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Construction Committee and head of the commission, submitted several proposals that ought now to be transformed into a government decree, establishing the priorities in restoration work. A decision cannot be put off any longer. Without such a decree there will be no funds and Grozny might face winter in its present devastated condition.
What exactly has the Marshev Commission requested their lordships to consider? If truth were told, it isn't very ambitious: it asked for funds to restore accommodation for a mere 20,000 people. It did not make sense to restore the city to its pre-war dimensions – it then had about 420,000 inhabitants. The commission members concluded that since so many people had either died or fled it should now be reduced to about 230,000. By the end of this year the commission predicts that the population will barely exceed 100,000. And that is where the figure of 20,000 comes in.
"I think that the Chechens will make apartments and homes for 30,000 people using their own resources. So, together with our contribution, that already adds up to 50,000," says Marshev. "Add the houses that have survived and you've got another 30,000–40,000. By winter, 90,000 people would have permanent dwellings." The man who rebuilt Grozny after the 1994–6 war, Marshev knows the city like the back of his hand. Now 64, he graduated from the construction engineering institute in Kazan and has spent his whole life in construction, starting as a site foreman and ending as a highly placed government official.
This is all very fine, but we know only too well that the authorities, especially in Russia, always try to reduce the scope of their responsibilities. The commission's arithmetic is neither accurate nor decent in human terms. To a very great extent it is dictated by political considerations. Judge for yourself: they are already talking about a deliberate reduction in the population of Grozny. If the commission's proposal is accepted, some 100,000 of the city's former inhabitants, who now live in the refugee camps of Chechnya and Ingushetia, will be "written off", and will face the coming winter in the same destitute condition as now. Not a word is said about them in these plans and proposals.
And then there's the money. How much will it cost to rebuild Grozny? As any thoughtful person can see – because of the constantly renewed outbursts of fighting, raids and the laying of minefields – no one can answer that question for the time being. If someone gravely names a specific sum, don't believe them.
Government decrees are written according to other principles, however: demand as much as you can, then quickly pass the buck. According to Marshev's commission, before the cold sets in the basic restoration work in Grozny will require about 100 million roubles [$3.4 million, Tr.] in public funds. This will cover the following work. First and foremost the water supply must be restored: no more than a quarter of the town is provided for at present, and that is only because water continues to drain out of the reservoirs, thanks to gravity. Second, the sewerage system must start working again. Third, rebuild the hospitals. Fourth, be ready to open the schools by 1 September. And only last come homes for people to live in.
It's a pragmatic approach and, indeed, what sense is there in putting up housing if there won't be water, heating and a sewerage system for those apartments? What will people do there? Merely confirm the "victory" of their return to the place where they lived before?
The last point in the Marshev plan, the rebuilding of homes, has stirred the most powerful outbursts of official passion. It stands a strong chance of being turned down. Putin, as we all know, is particularly concerned about appearances, and this often works to the detriment of the job in hand. The presidential staff intends to oppose the restoration of Grozny in stages, as proposed by the commission. This is all in order to impress the West: the first thing we're doing, they'd like to say, is to build houses for the people of Grozny.
"Some of the residential areas have survived," continues Marshev, "but the water supply and sewerage system have been totally plundered. And I mean exactly what I say! Only the shells of the former pumping stations and part of the underground structures have survived. Everything else has been stolen. Bombs fell only on the Starosunzhensk reservoir (the transformer was hit) and on the only sewage pumping station No 1 in the city (but no more than the electrical works there were affected – a couple of weeks to repair at most). It will take months, though, to make good the damage caused by this barbarous plundering.
"When I saw it I almost burst into tears. I would never have believed that people were capable of doing that to themselves. All the twelve pumping stations in Grozny and the second-level booster pumps have been stripped and plundered. The generators have been destroyed, all the copper has been stripped out. All the transformers have been ripped apart. The contact wires and all the aluminium from the high-voltage cables have been removed. Water won't rise by itself: there are 6,000–10,000-kilovolt lines running up to the water reservoirs!
When we were examining the Chernorechensk reservoir we caught four marauders red-handed. They were smashing the two remaining "operable" generators with sledgehammers in order to steal the copper windings. As a result, it will need from 70 to 100 million roubles just to restore the sewerage system – and that's only to ensure the most basic minimum. It's the good fortune and salvation of Grozny, I believe, that it is one of the few cities in the world where the water reservoirs are higher than the city itself: they are at 232 metres while Grozny itself is at 80 metres above sea level. Water can reach the city simply by gravity. I honestly cannot understand how people could destroy what their fathers and brothers and sisters built – it should all be working for them! To my mind it's like the behaviour of field commander Ruslan Gelayev.50 How could he ever think of taking the war home, to Komsomolskoe, knowing in advance that his own home and village would be destroyed! Evidently he has no sense of honour or conscience, either towards his fellow villagers or his clan."
There is, of course, quite another side to life in Grozny and Chechnya today. Some certainly continue to rob themselves in this way, but others are working day and night to make life more bearable for those around them. Highly experienced construction engineers have already returned to Grozny and, without waiting for decrees to be issued or funds released in Moscow, they are now saving the city: Elmurza Ismailov has been appointed to head the revived Chechen construction department; Aidi Aliskhanov is chief engineer for the city's water supply system; Abu Sugapov and Curie Bataev are experienced gas engineers and Mansur Bakaneev is responsible for the city's electricity network. They are passionate about their work and are labouring selflessly. They weld pipes, venture out across minefields, and take every conceivable risk in order to bring water, gas and light back to the city.
A separate and highly sensitive issue in the present rebuilding of Grozny is the way in which compensation for lost property and housing will be paid. There has still not been any mention of payment or how it is to be made. The plan is that the majority of people will receive building materials from State reserves and will begin to restore their own homes. The Marshev plan pursues the same ideology: it is more sensible to give people compensation in kind – since the affected families have so many problems the money could disappear in any direction and as a result a wrecked home might remain without a roof or doors this winter.
Lastly, the most important question of all. What deadlines is everyone working to? The special commission sent to investigate Grozny did the impossible and in the space of eight (!) days worked their way painstakingly across all the city's ruins. They understood that the speed with which funds for the restoration work began to flow depended on the rapidity with which they submitted their report. In the capital quite a different picture is to be found in those corridors of power that must utter the final approval.
"Many people ask me: Is it possible to restore Grozny within a year or two?" comments Marshev. "I say: It's possible. It could also take 20 years. Even now everything else we need is already happening in Grozny: people are trying to rebuild the schools, and gradually the hospitals are re-opening. But things must start moving much faster. The tragedy is not behind us. Four months will pass in no time. We must hurry and reach a decision."
Alas, if the new president must be inaugurated and a new government chosen, there is little time left to think about rebuilding Grozny or signing some decree! Of course not. While the State's highest officials were celebrating and, at the same time, nervously waiting to see if they would remain in office, these crucial documents lay unread and unconsidered. Thousands of dispossessed and homeless people were waiting with baited breath for Moscow's reaction. But in the capital serious work was set aside yet again, because no one wanted to miss out on the parties and celebrations.