They made the stupid decision of giving Chechens some latitude and they have paid for that with a lot of blood. Poles are good enough to treat groups like their Tatars with respect. Russians tend to be more chauvinistic.
For the first, don't you see inconsistency of your statement? Or what you mean by "latitude"?
The latitude had been given to them long before the first Chechen war. They felt free at 80th... they felt free to do whatever some Chechen groups wanted and get away unpunished. From my perspective that was a leading cause for the starting the war.
A bit of figures... Migration of the Russians from Chechnya in 1988-1989 was 5 times bigger than that of 1978-1979. It took ten years to shorten the Russian population in Chechnya tenfold from 30% in 1989 to 3,7% in 2002. Genocide? Yes. Who's responsible? Some Chechen bandgroups and the Russian government which turned a blind eye onto it.
My parents' apartment was downtown on Partizanskaya St., opposite the Republic's Art Foundation. From their 4th floor, they witnessed
the scene, which soon became an ordinary sight in many parts of the city. A few Russians were passing by the Republic's Art Foundation Building. A car "Volga" passed by and then stopped. Some armed Chechens got out of the car and shot down the poor guys with their automatic guns. Then slowly got into the car and drove away. After this horrible scene, which was witnessed by my parents, they understood at last what "independent Ichkeria" meant.
Roy Conrad. Grozny... a few days
Roy Conrad
Of course later, especially when putin finally came to power the crimes became mutual. The Russian part of the crimes are well described in Putinskaja Rossija (putin's Russia) and in vtoraja Chechenskaja (the second Chechen (war) by Politkovskaja. However she doesn't almost dwell on Chechen crimes.
And yes, we treat Tatars well too, but there's much difference between a Chechen and a Tatar as between Chuckchee and a Jew. One can hardly deal with those who have no respect for your faith, your lifestyle, your values.
I would be happy to see Chechens equal part of our society, fully integrated into it but it will take time. It's not going to happen when either putin or kadyrov are at the helm.
Another thing that struck my eye in your statement was the word "chauvinistic". Yes we are chauvinistic towards Chechen (not towards Tatars) but it couldn't be otherwise since the policy of our government is to trigger such a mood in the society, to make us hate Chechens, to make the conflict endless.
Poles may feel some bad will towards certain foreigners but they tend not to act on it like Russians do.
An offtop.... I heard from a Russian Pole (who don't speak Polish though) that a cashier on a station didn't want to sell tickets to Szczecin cause he couldn't say the name of the city
Polish enough. An older Pole who stayed next in the line helped him...
I can't imagine a Russian being that chauvinistic.