Civilians in Chechnya, flinching under constant Russian bombardment, are bewildered, and terrified. Those who have been unable to flee to neighboring Ingushetia are living without electricity, gas, or provisions. Almost every house in Grozny now has a wood-stove made by a local blacksmith, used for both cooking and heating. "We get by, but we're exhausted," said Muslim Kadiev, 65, who lives in the village of Pervomayaskaya, just west of the capital of the breakaway republic.

It achieved de facto autonomy in 1996 after a three-year war against federal Russian troops which left some 80,000 dead, but Russian troops invaded again on October 1 in a bid to quell Islamic guerillas. "After 1994, we had war, bombardments, then the victory in 1996," Kadiev said. "But who did that benefit? Since then, we've had chaos, Wahhabites (Islamic extremists), and now war again."

It is impossible, in the Grozny region, to find anyone who supports the Islamists who attacked neighboring Dagestan in August and September, provoking Russia's wrath. Kadiev believes Chechnya's fighters will probably defeat the federal Russian forces, but flinches at the cost. "Now," he said, "our fighters are united, they will very probably win. But at what cost? Once again, we shall have bloodshed, refugees, famine ... " Kadiev has filled his small cellar with flour and grain for his family, and he cultivates a vegetable garden, but remains melancholy. If the Russians capture the village, he said, "they won't leave one survivor."

Farther west, the village of Goragorsky has been under intense attack for several days. On the road from there, Akhmed, 60, is making his way toward Grozny, along with other civilians. The village elders went to negotiate with General Vladimir Shamanov, the local Russian army commander, he said. "He didn't let them say a word. He spoke first, to say: 'We're going to raze everything, to the ground.' "It's true that that they will destroy everything. Civilians or not, we're all enemies in their eyes."

Farther along, Zarina is walking with her two children. She stops to exchange a few words with fighters going the other way, to the front. She comes from Dolinskaya, a village between Goragorsky and Grozny. Her husband has gone to fight at Goragorsky; she is going to stay with her sister in Grozny. She talks to the fighters tiredly, but with a calm voice: "The Russians have deployed near Goragorsky, and they're bombarding the road from the hills; go and see for yourselves." A fighter replies: "Don't worry; stay for a while with your sister." He appears resigned. "What can we do?" he asks. "We can't let the Russians through, they'll kill us all." "I'll wait," Zarina replies. "We'll see how it works out."

The civilians here, at first sight, appear to have remarkable sang-froid. In fact, they say they have simply lost the will to live.

Nikolai Topuria
© 1999 Agence France Presse