Trust Putin? Contract with Kremlin chief "worth no more than the paper it's written on"

Merkur Trust Putin? Contract with Kremlin chief "worth no more than the paper it's written on" Article by Christoph Gschoßmann • 7 hours • 3 minutes reading time Diplomatic end to the war? Today they are fighting for Ukraine: soldiers from Georgia, Chechnya and Belarus remember Putin's previous breaches of promise. Washington, D.C./Moscow - After a long period of radio silence, Russia and the USA are beginning to negotiate with each other again. There are phone calls between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, a meeting of the foreign ministers in Saudi Arabia and diplomatic preparations in Istanbul. A direct meeting between Trump and Putin could also be imminent. Four soldiers who have experienced Putin's breach of promise first hand warn against trusting the Russian autocrat. Chechen War Veterans Tell of Putin's Betrayal The Moscow Times spoke to two Chechens, Benor and Berkhi, as well as Georgian Vakha and Stare from Belarus, all of whom serve in the Ukrainian army. Benor fought against Russian forces in the Second Chechen War, while Vakha fought in the Georgian war against Russian-backed Abkhaz separatists in 1993. He stresses that "Russia will never fulfill its obligations." This has never happened in the past. "Not in Georgia, not in Chechnya, not in Ukraine after the annexation of Crimea. So why should it now?" He recalls Putin's betrayal during the Chechen War. After an initial victory by the Chechens, they forced the Khasavyurt Agreement in 1996. But in 1999, then Russian Prime Minister Putin launched a new military intervention under the pretext of an anti-terrorist operation. The Chechen separatists, divided and poorly equipped, surrendered in 2009. "Every day was like Bucha," Benor recalls. "Every day the Russians raided our villages and massacred men, women and children. They killed more than 100,000 people and destroyed every city in the country." Veterans' warnings about Russia: "They will try to divide Ukraine" Is Putin playing a double game again? After the first contacts with the new US administration under Trump, the Kremlin chief expressed hope for better relations. "There is a will on both sides to work for the restoration of interstate relations, for the gradual resolution of the colossal accumulation of accumulated systemic strategic problems in the world architecture," Putin said at a meeting of the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB in Moscow. Benor does not believe these words. He predicts Moscow's actions: "They will try to divide Ukraine, rebuild their army and resources - I am 100 percent sure of that," he says. "That is exactly what they did with Chechnya. They will use everything they have to take complete control of Ukraine." They will never stop. "We can never trust the Russians": Is Ukraine going like Chechnya? Berkhi, a fellow countryman of Benor, also warns: "We can never trust the Russians. I lost my country because of this so-called peace agreement. History repeats itself. We won the First Chechen War. They took their time to rearm while they divided us, and in the end they won. They will try to do the same with Ukraine. Putin cannot be trusted. He is a liar and a murderer." He adds: "When I hear about negotiations, I get flashbacks to the Chechen peace talks of 1996-1997. A peace treaty with Russia is not worth more than the paper it is written on." Stare from Belarus joined the Kiev army because he "had Ukrainian friends and saw what Russia was doing." Since then, the Belarusian KGB has tried to intimidate his family back home. "They arrested my relatives several times to get information about what I was doing in Ukraine," he says. Belarus is "a corrupt country that is completely controlled by Russia. And they want to do the same in Ukraine. They want to destroy the Ukrainian language, culture and everything that is even remotely anti-Kremlin. And if they cannot install a dictator like Lukashenko in Ukraine, they will not end the war. No matter what treaty applies. Ukrainians should keep fighting." Putin and Trump are getting closer - will there be a meeting soon? Putin and Trump are striving for a diplomatic solution. They agreed to the contacts during a telephone conversation. Putin again claimed that Russia had always been ready to resolve the conflict in Ukraine peacefully. Putin himself had started the war against the neighboring country a good three years ago.