Talk:Arbi Barayev

Old talk

He was also active in the first war, when he and his men were more or less under orders (but already started kidnapping - inlcuding a group of 30 Russian civilians ransomed in Jan. 1996). --HanzoHattori 09:30, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:46, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Viktor Popkov

Hey. If someone wants to make an article on him, here are some sources:

• http://www.amina.com/article/dontkill.html
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/oct/07/comment.religion
• http://viktorpopkov.narod.ru/
• http://fil.quaker.org/story_vigil.html
• http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2371824
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1290100.stm
• http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/152

He Died for His Ideals

By Stanislav Bozhko

ON June 2, the prominent human rights defender and peacemaker Viktor Alekseyevich Popkov died at the Vishnevsky Military Hospital. He was mortally wounded on April 18 in Chechnya, near the village of Alkhan-Kala.

He had been sitting in the front of a medical van, and the killer fired at an upward angle. The bullets shattered the windshield and riddled the entire right side of his body. All this happened in broad daylight just a short distance from a federal checkpoint. The assassin's car left, and nobody followed. The car carrying the dying Popkov was detained at the checkpoint for about 40 minutes. Every minute's delay decreased his chances for survival.

Viktor Popkov. Born in 1946. Human rights defender, missionary, peacemaker, savior. He spent the last 15 years of his life in the hotspots of Russia's south and the near abroad, beginning in Nagorny Karabakh and ending in Chechnya. His earlier biography was typical of a 1960s intellectual. He studied physics at a Moscow institute, left without graduating and became a journalist. He worked as a seismologist in Kamchatka. When the war in Chechnya began, Viktor did not stop to think whether one powerless man could do anything. He plunged in to stop it with his own hands.

During the monstrous Grozny "meat-grinder" of January 1995, he did the impossible. Day after day, in the cellars of the demolished presidential palace, he pleaded with armed guards for the lives of captured Russian soldiers. And he got a few of them to safety, taking those who could still walk. Only a few days later, heavy bombing turned the palace cellars into a mass grave.

Sitting with two dogs and a cat in a tiny book-filled apartment on the outskirts of Moscow, I look through family photographs. A happy young couple with two children, ages 3 and 5. "This guy is one of those he got out of there," says Viktor's wife Tanya. And suddenly I understand that, if not for Viktor, this guy would not be alive and enjoying his children.

I traveled with Viktor to a few hotspots. The first time it was the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone. I had to learn on the run, from how to get around in areas under fire to negotiating with combatants. Viktor at first irritated me with his deliberate slowness when I thought haste was in order. It was only after a few years of having worked with him, in both Chechen wars, that I understood he marched to his own drummer, sharing other people's pain and taking on other people's burdens.

Speaking of his goals in his seventh and penultimate trip to Chechnya, Viktor wrote; "As usual, it is to preserve my feeling of involvement in what is happening in Chechnya, to keep within me a striving to help and to defend the people of Chechnya, who are being destroyed by my Russia." He always felt a personal responsibility for evil done before his eyes and for every life extinguished - he simply could not be otherwise. And he was able quietly to insist to people blinded by hatred and given to violence that they respect humanitarian precepts. He knew that the slightest sign of nervousness or haste could ruin everything.

And Viktor was unbelievably successful. He was given custody of prisoners and hostages, and delivered humanitarian aid to remote areas of Chechnya. For weeks this strange, white-bearded man in a monk's habit wandered along the stony paths, spending his nights in forgotten mountain settlements. I even saw federal troops ask for his blessing, and old Chechens offer him bread.

Who shot Viktor Popkov? There are only assumptions at this point. He had no personal enemies in Chechnya, but there was undisguised malice from the authorities. I felt it when Viktor and I were distributing allowances to refugees from Komsomolsky. After a federal assault on the village, the residents were left with no homes or property, and no support from the authorities. We did our work openly, in close cooperation with the local social welfare office. We provided assistance to large families, the handicapped and the elderly. An hour after we began, we were detained by the Urus-Martan FSB. The local administration unsuccessfully tried to accuse us of helping fighters. Later we were sent to military headquarters where we were openly threatened. They released us toward evening and made it clear that we were not to return. And that was not the only incident.

In February 2000, Viktor was delivering aid to the village of Gekhi-Chu, left nearly in ruins after a mopping-up operation. He distributed it to the neediest residents who were left without shelter. Among them was an elderly teacher, a rural doctor, and an old blind woman born in 1895 who was lying on an iron bed in what was left of her home. Nevertheless, the head of the local administration accused Viktor of aiding the fighters - because he helped the neediest and drew up the distribution list with respected local residents and not with the village administration.

Last winter Viktor was working on an aid program for residents of Chechnya's mountains, who have suffered most during recent military operations. He worked for over a month in these isolated places and was horrified by what he saw. Endless mopping-up operations, plundering, violence. Adolescents taken away to detention camps where they vanished. Shepherds blown up bylandmines. Extrajudicial executions. Hunger and fear. Nearly all the children suffering from vitamin deficiency and dystrophy. Measles epidemics and tuberculosis. No shoes or clothing.

Viktor filmed all this. He felt an enormous responsibility to the thousands of people who ended up in tragic isolation, doomed to a slow death from starvation and disease. He was practically the only person who had information about their needs. And only he was prepared to go to them to help. And now he is no more.

He died. Doctors in Grozny, Nazran and Moscow fought hard for his life. They did everything they could, but his wounds were fatal. Viktor has gone. He leaves behind a wife and two children. His wife and his daughter Ulyana have been invalids for 19 years, and the girl has a severe genetic disease. Viktor and Tanya nursed her from birth. Perhaps during those years, Viktor learned his constant and active compassion toward life teetering on the brink of disappearance. He loved them very much.

Stanislav Bozhko was Viktor Popkov's friend and colleague. He contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times. For information on how to help the family of Viktor Popkov, see www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/06/20/009.html.

I somehow feel Pokov deserves a better article than Baraev has. I remember reading about him many years ago, I think in Anatol Lieven's Chechnya. --84.234.60.154 (talk) 16:16, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, there are also numerous Russian sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6], [7]. He definitely deserved an article.Biophys (talk) 17:02, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Are we sure he was shot by Barayev's men? - PietervHuis (talk) 19:15, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

In fact only one source [8] claim killers to be members of Barayev gang, without any explanations. Others tell he was short from another car, not far from a Russian block post. This is not Barayev's style at all. They always tried to kidnap people in order to get ransom.Biophys (talk) 20:00, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

"Islamic fundamentalists in conjunction with the Russian forces" (and near Alkhan-Kala - ah, who can they be?) --84.234.60.154 (talk) 20:41, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Also: "On April 18, gunmen in Alkhan-Kala opened fire on Viktor Popkov, a leading Russian human rights activist. Popkov died six week later from his wounds. People close to Popkov believe Chechen fighters were involved in the attack." http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/europe16.html --84.234.60.154 (talk) 20:42, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, maybe them. Probably someone paid them to kill Popkov. The car with shooters waited for Popkov.Biophys (talk) 02:36, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

probably indeed, what business would barayevs man have with Popkov? - PietervHuis (talk) 22:55, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

And still no article. While even Chris Crocker (Internet celebrity) has a detailed article about his stupid life and "career". --84.234.60.154 (talk) 08:36, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Can you make this article yourself?Biophys (talk) 14:57, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Actually no and you know this. But I guess you can (even short with links will do). --84.234.60.154 (talk) 20:00, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

O'K, I can start it, and you might help. BTW, Pieter just has been blocked for a week.Biophys (talk) 20:18, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

I made the stub. Please extend. Let me know if you need anything else.Biophys (talk) 22:22, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Also Barayev still simply redirects to Movsar. Edit: Well, I fixed it (kinda). --84.234.60.154 (talk) 20:08, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Okay. St. Petersburg Times (Russia) needs to br redirected to The St. Petersburg Times. --84.234.60.154 (talk) 01:17, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

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