Minorities in Russia want action, not words

Can a few fine words shed light into the dark corners of Russian justice even when they come from President Dmitry Medvedev? No, not unless they are followed by hard action.

Mr Medvedev did well to condemn the brutal killing last week of a leading human rights lawyer working in blood-soaked Chechnya and to make clear he suspected a connection between the murder of Natalia Estemirova and her work documenting human rights abuses. Ms Estemirova had been collecting statements from witnesses of alleged violence from law enforcers – including the Kadyrovtsy, armed bands loyal to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Moscow-appointed Chechen president.

The Russian president's uncompromising language came in sharp contrast to the response three years ago of his predecessor and mentor, Vladimir Putin, to the shooting in Moscow of another brave individual probing abuses in Chechnya, the campaigning journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Mr Putin took two days to react, only to dismiss her influence in Russia as "small".

Mr Medvedev, a St Petersburg lawyer, has already shown he knows better than the former KGB colonel what to say in these circumstances. This year he was quick to condemn the killing of Stanislav Markelov, a leading human rights lawyer, and Anastasia Baburova, a young journalist from the liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Mr Markelov had been appealing against the parole of a Russian officer convicted of murdering a Chechen girl and Ms Baburova had been covering the case.

But if Mr Medvedev is serious about his pledge to impose the rule of law, he must act, and he must act over Chechnya. Russia is a huge country of 142m people, with 89 regions and scores of ethnic minorities, many with an ingrained hatred of Moscow. This is particularly true in much of the northern Caucasus, where the Chechens rub shoulders with other rebellious peoples, including in neighbouring Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Allowing these minorities political rights without compromising Russia's security or territorial integrity would strain the capacities of the most enlightened leaders. The threat presented by Chechen extremists was bloodily demonstrated in the Beslan school siege, in which 330 died.

That said, Mr Putin contributed to the violence by taking a particularly brutal approach to Chechnya. Even before he became president in 2000, he was, as prime minister, involved in launching a dirty war against Chechnya's secessionist guerrillas. Once the fighting died down, he recruited Mr Kadyrov, an ex-rebel, to impose peace.

Peace of a kind has been achieved in Chechnya, albeit with violent outbreaks as anti-guerrilla operations continue. But it is a deathly peace in which the shadows of war, including the crimes committed on all sides, are never far away. Meanwhile the atmosphere in the Caucasus, never cool, has been fired up by last year's war in Georgia and by fighting within Russia in Ingushetia and Dagestan.

A comprehensive peace in the northern Caucasus would require long-term policies to win over the non-Russian peoples through political and social inclusion and economic development, and stabilise the whole region.

This would take years. But one move Mr Medvedev could make now would be to show he really does intend to apply the rule of law in the northern Caucasus by bringing to justice Ms Estemirova's killers. That would mean pursuing not only those who pulled the trigger but those who ordered the execution. Memorial, the human rights group with which Ms Estemirova was working, has blamed Mr Kadyrov. He denies the charge. Mr Medvedev could show he is serious by appointing a prosecutor to investigate fully Memorial's claim.

Ms Estemirova's colleagues fear there is not the slightest chance this will happen because Mr Medvedev has already dismissed claims of Mr Kadyrov's responsibility. The president has an opportunity to prove them wrong – and prove when he says he wants justice, he means what he says. Chechnya would be a difficult place to begin, given that the chain of command in Chechnya leads to Moscow and that Mr Putin has personally played a big role in its recent bloody history. But the gravity of the Chechnya-linked cases means they cannot be ignored if there is to be justice in Russia.

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