Arriving Somewhere

Mark N. Katz writes a nice short article in the Washington Times about Putin’s motivations to continue the conflict in Chechnya.

Analysis: Putin’s self-defeating policy

Moscow’s failure to quell the Chechen insurgency has humiliated the Russian armed forces… But after promising to pacify Chechnya, such a withdrawal could cause grave damage to Putin politically… In short, many Russians fear (rightly or wrongly) that the secession of Chechnya will lead to the unraveling of Russia itself.
…
Moscow was especially threatened by the democratic revolutions that took place in Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, and Kyrgyzstan in 2005. Moscow fears similar democratic revolutions will spread to other former Soviet republics, which will also turn away from Russia and toward the United States. Putin prefers to see the present autocratic regimes primarily allied to or dependent on Russia in the former Soviet republics than democratic ones that are not.