And that's why I just shrugged in amazement when I heard on the "Vremya" program on Sunday that the military operation in Novogroznenskoye began with the aim of "squeezing out" the militants who had penetrated there.

If I were, say, president, and had to voice all the fantastic ravings of his assistants, I would believe it and say: yes, since they "squeezed in," we must "squeeze them out." A strike from helicopters! A salvo from a "Grad"! Attack, forward... For the Motherland (or what do guys die for there today?)...

But I've just returned from there, from Novogroznenskoye...

And only some utterly lazy retiree from the CIA didn't know that Maskhadov, Raduyev, and Basayev were there, that the headquarters and even a special department were there.

More than that! When on the way to Novogroznenskoye we talked at a blockpost with our officer, he, having learned to whom and why we were going, said: "Maskhadov was there about two hours ago. I don't know if he's still there or has already left..." He said it as one collective farm chairman used to speak about another collective farm chairman, whom he had just seen at a meeting of the district party committee.

Yes, everyone knew that the famous Dudayev commanders were gathering in Novogroznenskoye. But I saw neither pillboxes nor dugouts there, nor what military propaganda calls "enemy bases." Ordinary village houses—I saw them; women hanging laundry—I saw them; children running in the streets—I saw them... And men, young and old, of course, too. And those who didn't want war, and those who were used to war.

Only the "Grad" system doesn't distinguish who is who: it strikes at the living, at all living things. Only bombs and shells don't care what will be in their path: trenches or a garden with an old man digging in the soil. And that's why only now do I understand the words of one field commander: "Well, they should actually bomb our bases, our positions. War is war, and at least you know what you're dying for. But what do peaceful people have to do with it? Women—what for? Children—what for?"

I see only one reason why Novogroznenskoye was suddenly remembered now: it is there that, however fragile, negotiations about the fate of Russian prisoners are taking place. To allow them to succeed would mean to hasten the end of this senseless war.

There is, however, another reason that I think about more and more. Money.

Billions and billions were allocated for the restoration of Grozny, and it is still unclear who received them. The money ran out—give us Gudermes!—until it too turns into a second Grozny. Again, billions and billions. But those who started this new operation (perhaps they failed not only history and military training in school, but also geography) are not aware that the village of Novogroznenskoye is not Grozny and not Gudermes, for whose restoration the money bag will open again.

Just a village, a village, of which there are so many across Russia.

Having reread the report and the commentary written two weeks later (they are one whole from '96 for me), I did not change a single sentence in them.

Including the last phrase: "For Russia to win, Russia must lose this war," for which some Zhirinovsky supporter snarled at me in the State Duma, and some calmer ones advised me not to forget that my word was now not merely journalistic, but also a deputy's word.

Though to this day I cannot find this distinction within myself.

Yes, in December 1995, I was elected to the State Duma from the Yabloko faction and once again entered deputyship — only this time it was already in the Russian Federation.

That is, I stepped into the same sea for the second time.

Although no. The sea had changed, and its color was somehow different, and the seagulls spoke a similar but not always understandable language.

Well, okay... About what I would like to add to that report from January '96.

There was no war,
Just people shooting
At each other.

Firstly, I was going to Chechnya for the first time as a deputy, a member of the State Duma's Security Committee, to meet with Maskhadov, with our military, and most importantly, to ascertain the fate of our prisoners.