"Certainly, what was going on in Chechnya at that time was alarming. But those problems were not unsolvable, and the bringing of troops into that republic was an absolutely inadequate measure. That was a great and tragic mistake, which led to the second military campaign and later to a terrorist war. Thousands of people were killed, Chechnya has suffered catastrophic devastation, but the situation there still remains unsettled," Gorbachev said in an interview with Interfax.
The former Soviet leader also suggested that it would make sense today to consider granting more autonomy to Chechnya within the Russian Federation. He said he completely supports "Vladimir Putin's efforts to redirect the settlement of the Chechen conflict onto a political path."
On December 11, 1994, then Russian president Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on measures to settle the situation in Chechnya, which were in fact a plan of a military operation.
Head of the Memorial human rights center Oleg Orlov described as "very distressing" the implications of the December 1994 decision to launch a military operation in Chechnya for the current humanitarian situation in that region.
"The situation surrounding the observance of human rights in Chechnya is extremely bad, and, unfortunately, terrorism has not been defeated. You can't say that all terrorist attacks are related to Chechnya, but on the whole, the continued war in Chechnya does fuel this phenomenon," Orlov said.
It is necessary to involve various forces in Chechen society to advance a settlement in that republic, Orlov said.
Chairman of the Chechen State Council Taus Dzhabrailov called for more active efforts in combating terrorist and other illegal armed groups not only in Chechnya but also in other regions where they commit crimes from time to time.
Dzhabrailov claimed in a recent interview with Interfax that, according to his information, most members of illegal armed groups acting in Chechnya are residents of the neighboring North Caucasus regions, CIS countries, and even non-CIS nations.
"They have access to the most advanced weapons and don't experience shortage of explosives. They have used tonnes of explosives on a number of occasions, but the nation has never been told about the source from which these explosives have arrived, because Chechnya does not produce explosives itself," he said.
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