Chechnya - again in the limelight of the liberal part of Russian society. This time because of the history of the persecution of members of sexual minorities and threats to the journalists of Novaya Gazeta, who allowed themselves to talk about the tragedy of their compatriots. Yes, compatriots. Because the persecuted are the same citizens of the Russian Federation as everyone else. And most importantly, what journalists and human rights activists are demanding from the Russian leadership today is to make Chechnya live according to the laws of the state, to which it belongs. Under the laws of the Russian Federation. Because in the Russian Federation - despite even the ridiculous legislation against the "propaganda of homosexuality," which has turned Russia into a worldwide mockery, still do not create secret gay prisons and do not offer relatives of people of another sexual orientation "to solve the problem". And in the Russian Federation, officials - even the most odious ones - do not publicly threaten journalists.

The paradox of the situation, however, is not in this. And the fact that many of those who demand today to make Chechnya live according to Russian laws, not so long ago sympathized with the struggle of Ichkeria for independence. And now imagine that there would be no second Chechen war, that Russia would reconcile itself with Chechen independence, that next to it there would exist Ichkeria, and not inside it, Chechnya. Would the state of Johar Dudayev, Aslan Maskhadov, Shamil Basayev, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev be more tolerant of sexual minorities or a free press than Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov? Not to mention the fact that if Ichkeria won, the first Chechen president, Akhmad Kadyrov, the father of the current head of the republic, would be an integral part of her leadership. I just want to remind you that modern Chechnya is not led by the Chechens who fought during the uprising for independence on the side of Moscow. No, modern Chechnya is led by those participants in this insurrection who understood the futility of what is happening and agreed with the Kremlin. I emphasize - I did not surrender, but I agreed. Moscow had its own conditions, those who stayed in the ruined Grozny - their own.

The Republic of Dudayev, which many Russian democrats supported so much, was not at all a model of democracy. Dudayev ruled the country in a general way, he dissolved the parliament even when Yeltsin could only dream about it. He was not going to negotiate with the opposition - and in many ways predetermined the emergence of pro-Moscow forces in Ichkeria. But most importantly, he also understood well the foundations of the existence of Chechen society, like the current representatives of the Chechen leadership. He was building a state for the Chechens - but this state would not at all be similar not only to Switzerland or Belgium. It would not even look like neighboring Georgia. And even more so it would not be like Russia. Just because it's different.

I understood very well then, in the 90's, this obvious difference. For the article "The President of Chechnya or the Imam of the Caucasus" dedicated to Dudayev, another famous Chechen of the 1990s - the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Russia Ruslan Khasbulatov - gave me a scandal at his press conference. For Khasbulatov, who grew up in the distance from Chechnya and absorbed Russian illusions about the "identity" of the peoples conquered by Russia, Dudayev was simply the leader of the rebellious Russian region, which must be called to order. And it was not so. Dudayev directed not the region, but the people. The people who live in a different world than the Russians. I would even say - in a different time than the Russians. And I wanted freedom from the Russians. What is not clear?.

That's why I was convinced that Moscow should not fight for the preservation of Russia's territorial integrity, but divorce from Chechnya as soon as possible - and as legitimately as possible. Adopt a law that would exclude subjects from the Russian Federation. To hold referenda - both in Chechnya and in Russia. And fenced off from the rebellious republic, recognizing its independence.

Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin have taken a different path. Yeltsin - because he feared the effect of dominoes and the parade of sovereignties in the event of a refusal from Chechnya. Putin - because he needed a small victorious war on terror. How many troubles brought this decision to ordinary Russians, we well know. But the most important thing is that Chechnya still became a real independent state. A state that is formally considered a subject of the Russian Federation - but lives by its own rules. And from this point of view, the president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, is much more independent in his domestic political steps than the president of Ichkeria, Dzhokhar Dudayev. Because Dudayev had to find means not only for war, but also for the existence of the republic. And Kadyrov receives these funds.

To join Chechnya to Russia after two terrible wars is roughly the same thing that today to annex the Gaza Strip to Israel. Find some arbitrary "loyalists", let them rule the sector with an iron hand in exchange for the security of the territory of Israel itself, and let the residents of the sector distribute Israeli passports. I do not even ask whether Israel will become safer after such a decision. And I do not ask whether the residents of the Gaza Strip will love the Israelis after this decision. The other question is that the Gaza Strip will continue to live by its own rules and within Israel - but it is much more comfortable. Just about the same way that many Arab villages live in Israel itself: do each of them have the same degree of freedom and respect for laws as Tel Aviv?.

I do not accidentally cite this analogy, which many may seem exaggerated. I want to explain that the Russians - this word is very appropriate here, Russians, and not Russian ones - liberals - quite naively raise the question when they try to call for the implementation of Russian laws in Chechnya. Chechnya will never live according to Russian rules - and, by the way, it is perfectly understood in the Kremlin, therefore it is always with such reluctance to comment on everything connected with the authorities of this republic. If the issue of Russia's territorial integrity is really the main thing for the modern Russian statehood, and the expansion of the territory due to the theft of some Crimea causes an attack of national pride, then it is necessary to tell the truth at least to ourselves. Russia has much more chances to live by the rules of Chechnya than from Chechnya - according to the rules of Russia. Chechnya has won, is it really incomprehensible? Won - how could. As a small nation usually wins, when it sees that an open struggle with Goliath will only lead to total annihilation. And now he is infecting the giant with all his illnesses, with all his prejudices, with all his ideas about what is right and what is not.

That is why in Russia they will not simply swallow the history of sexual minorities in Chechnya. Sooner or later they will allow each region to have its own legislation on such minorities - and almost the entire territory of Russia, as in the Soviet times, will become unsafe for gays and their defenders. The leadership of Chechnya will have a legitimate right to defend "traditions and foundations" - and it is not one.

I would like to write that this is only the beginning of such changes, but what is the beginning? This is a continuation. Solving the problem of Chechnya's independence, Russia itself is gradually turning into Chechnya.

For territorial integrity - or, to be more precise - for territorial expansion, conquest of foreign peoples, territorial accession must be paid. And the Russian people traditionally pay that, as if on a time machine, once again goes to the past together with the conquered.

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