• 'We have always made clear our concerns over Chechnya and any question of human rights abuses there, although it is important to realise that Chechnya isn't Kosovo. The Russians have been subjected to really severe terrorist attacks.' Tony Blair, BBC, 10 March 2000 (Guardian, 11 March)

Prime Minister Blair's comments are clearly misleading. Quite apart from the real suspicions of Russian secret police involvement in the worst 'terrorist' outrages in Russia, the bombing of blocks of flats in Moscow and elsewhere, and notwithstanding the reality of Chechen attacks on Russian troops and civilians, these are hardly grounds for distinguishing Chechnya from Kosova. There was no doubt that Serbian troops, police and civilians were attacked by the Kosova Liberation Army during 1998-99: but in no way could that excuse Milosevic's war against the Albanian people either before or after NATO's intervention. Likewise Chechen 'terrorist' actions provide no warrant for Russia's war against the Chechen people.

Where Blair is wrong is this. No one expects him to wage war to free Chechnya from Russian slaughter. But just because the West cannot use military means does not imply that it should provide any political or financial comfort for the murderous, authoritarian, quasi-imperial regime of the former secret policeman Vladimir Putin. In particular it should not accommodate the 'justifications' for its sordid war.