Gorbachev urges special status for Chechnya

TO end a decade-long insurgency, Russia should grant breakaway Chechnya special status, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said, arguing some countries want Moscow to stay bogged down in the "Chechen quagmire".

Mr Gorbachev, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who paved the way for the downfall of communism and the break-up of the Soviet Union, also said there was an important lesson from the US-led invasion of Iraq: Don't act unilaterally.

"The crisis in Iraq has been a lesson, and I believe that lesson has been learned by both the United States and all of us," Mr Gorbachev said yesterday.

"That lesson is that unilateral action is really not the way to go, is really not the way forward," he said.

Looking at Russia's most immediate crisis, Mr Gorbachev said the solution in separatist Chechnya must be political. Russia has twice invaded largely Muslim Chechnya on Russia's southern rim, fighting a 1994-96 war to end a self-declared independence and a second war starting in 1999 after apartment bombings Russia blamed on Chechen terrorists.

The second war is still raging, and Mr Putin classifies it as part of the global war on terror. But at the same time, Mr Putin is trying to make Chechnya self-governing with a native leadership.

Mr Gorbachev, who as Soviet leader ended a decade-long war in Afghanistan by pulling the army out, said Mr Putin is acting correctly with political measures. Chechnya this year approved its own constitution in a referendum and voted on a new president.

"We should move forward on a political track, we should address the political, social and economic problems," said Mr Gorbachev, who is visiting the US to promote the environmental fund that he heads - Green Cross International.

"My formula for a solution is: Chechnya is part of Russia, all of Russia should help Chechnya to rebuild, and Chechnya should have a special status within Russia," he said.

The main solution suggested for Chechnya has been talks either with the rebels or with politicians in Chechnya who oppose Kremlin policy but aren't fighting. Other suggested solutions have ranged from allowing Chechnya to secede from Russia to wiping out the rebels.

Mr Gorbachev endorsed Mr Putin's approach for moderate Chechens to run their own affairs.

The political process, Mr Gorbachev said, is opposed by militants, "those who are in the centres of international terrorism, and I would also say some people in the Russian military".

"(Also) it's my gut feeling that some political leaders in some countries would like Russia to get bogged down in this Chechen quagmire," Mr Gorbachev said, without naming any countries.

An aide to Mr Gorbachev, citing a recent opinion poll, said a majority of Russians see America as hostile.

Mr Gorbachev shied away from questions on how he would like history to remember him but was sharp about Boris Yeltsin, his rival and eventual successor.

"History is a fickle lady. A lot depends on who will be writing that history and where," he said. "Boris Yeltsin spent 10 years trying to stomp out everything that Gorbachev had done. That was a Don Quixote- like enterprise. I do hope a little place in history will be available to me."