Table Of Content‘Impressive and wide-ranging’ – Sunday Times
‘Fluent and persuasive prose … admirably clear’ – New Statesman
‘A moving example of how history can be written. Smith’s account
of the historical background to the conflict reads like a novel, but
better, because it also has the intimacy and immediacy of an
eyewitness account. He has given us a memorable, well-researched
account of a peculiarly horrible war’ – Literary Review
‘This is a riveting book, written with almost seamless elegance.
But Allah’s Mountains is not simply a reportage. In a commendable
effort to go beyond the present facts, Smith has delved deeply into
the broader Caucasian context, steeping himself in the knowledge of
its myriad peoples, cultures and languages’ – International Affairs
‘Sebastian Smith’s Allah’s Mountains is a riveting battle by battle
account’ – The Tablet
‘Excellent, readable, insightful’ – Jane’s Intelligence Review
‘Smith’s book is exceptionally well written, alternating between
hard reporting and more personal vignettes that give the flavour and
emotional colouring of the area’ – The Moscow Times
‘Heads of state and their foreign ministers should be forced to
read and ponder this book.’ – Professor George Hewitt
Sebastian Smith has been a prize winning correspondent in
Washington, Moscow and London for the English-language service of
Agence France-Presse.
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A L L A H ’ S
MOUNTAINS
T B C
HE ATTLE FOR HECHNYA
Sebastian Smith
I.B.Tauris Publishers
LONDON • NEW YORK
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Revised paperback edition published in 2001 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by
St Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
First published in 1998 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
Copyright © Sebastian Smith, 1998, 2001
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any
part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission
of the publisher.
ISBN 1 86064 651 4
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress catalog card: available
Typeset in Monotype Sabon by Philip Armstrong, Sheffield
Printed and bound in Great Britain
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For my Father
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Maps xi
Introduction xvii
Prologue 1
Part 1 The Jigsaw 5
Part 2 Fires of Liberty 31
Part 3 The Jigsaw in Pieces 69
Part 4 The Chechen Wolf 121
Part 5 The Fury 145
Part 6 Chasing Paradise 269
Bibliography 275
Index 279
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Maps
1 Southern Russia and the Caucacus
2 Extent of Russian Conquest in Caucasus in 1800
3 Existing and Proposed Oil and Gas Pipelines
4 Ethnic Groups in the North Caucasus
5 Chechnya During 1994–96 War
6 Grozny
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Acknowledgements
The first people I owe thanks are those in Chechnya who risked their
lives to protect mine, or to help me get the story for my news agency,
usually for no reward. In true Caucasus style, many others ignored
considerable hardships to house and feed me.
Some are named in this book, but many are not. A special thanks
to Mussa Damayev of Shali, Salamu Turlayev of Novy Tsenteroi,
Khanzad Batayev and Movladi Yermolayev of Bamut, Ali Atuyev of
Stary Achkhoi, Islam Gunayev of Hadji Yurt, Yussup of Serzhen
Yurt.
I am grateful to all those in other parts of the North Caucasus
who displayed such magnicifent hospitality and also to the many
academics and officials who gave me their time. Especially: in
Dagestan, Sayid Khabetov of Novoselskoye, Natasha Stoyanova of
Makhachkala and Gussein Gazimagomedov of Gimry; in Ingushetia,
Boris Khaniyev; in North Ossetia, Anatoly Isayenko at Vladikavkaz
University and Vladimir Shakbazidi at the Greek Society; in
Kabardino-Balkaria, Kazir Dzhammal and his family in the
mountains; in Karachai-Cherkessia, Karachai leader Kazbek
Chomayev and mullah Kazbek Shamatayev, Rasul and friends; in
Adygea, Khamzet Kazanov, Aslan, museum director Almir Abregov
and national dance troupe director Amerbi Kulov; also the staff of
the Severny Kavkaz newspaper, especially Tatyana Mamkhyagova in
Cherkessk.
For their great help in knocking sense into my manuscript, I am
forever grateful to Andrew Harding, James Meek, Carey Scott and
Antony Smith. I also thank Anna-Maria Boura, Laurence Peter, Andrei
Piontkovsky and Dmitri Trenin for their comments on the text, and
Agence France-Presse and the Moscow Times for their archives, and
the Centre for Global Energy Studies and Philip Armstrong for maps.
Also thanks to my AFP boss Paola Messana for giving me time off
to write and an unlimited chance to work in Chechnya; to Natasha
Fairweather for helping me find a publisher; to Marina Lapenkova
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