"Mothers of Beslan": efforts to promote peace in the Caucasus are linked with Olympiad-2014

The Caucasus is in the "wait condition", since nobody knows precisely there, what policy will be pursued by the country and what the "card deal" will be after Olympiad-2014. This was stated by Aneta Gadieva, a member of the Association of victims of terror acts named "Mothers of Beslan".

"We all know why such efforts are applied now to set peace in the Caucasus. At the given stage, as I believe, it has to do with the forthcoming Olympiad," she said.

According to her version, in Soviet time there was precisely expressed policy - people's friendship. "All was done for this purpose: enterprises were built and workplaces were created everywhere, and national regions received economical development. That is, the problem was addressed somehow," Ms Gadieva said.

"Then, perestroika came; and Russia could not understand what the Caucasus meant for her: whether she needed it or not. This was the start of everything. In 1991, the law on repressed nations was passed. It was a delayed-action mine. Then, in 1993, Yeltsin said: take as much freedom and sovereignty as you need. Naturally, the national elites, who had ambitions and who understood that they could earn much greater dividends, benefited from it, and - naturally - the Caucasus was set on fire," said Ms Gadieva.

"And when the power changed, and Russia made its mind on the Caucasus, actions are being undertaken doomed to result in the so-called 'peace'," she has added.

In her opinion, if national and political elites do not worry and do not lobby the peace issue in the Caucasus, nobody else will address the problem.

As to the debates "Peace to the Caucasus", organized by the Public Chamber and held in North Ossetia, that, as Gadieva believes, "with their approach, with the format that was used, all the same no essential changes could be expected."

However, she agrees with the organizer of the debates Maxim Shevchenko that the Caucasus is dangerously explosive; there are quite plenty of hot spots here, which can flash up. "But I want to say that they flash up when someone needs it," Gadieva is confident.

She also agrees with the opinion that peoples of the Caucasus poorly know each other and they need to communicate more.