Dispatches From Hell.(Chechen massacre)(Brief Article)

Anna Politkovskaya, 43, sits in her office at the Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta, leafing through documents. She's hoping to prove, in a Russian court, that Chechen civilians have been massacred by Russian soldiers. Her problem is that crucial evidence has gone missing. "The bones that were at the site have disappeared," she says. And small wonder. It's located on a military base, under the control of the very people implicated in the killings. She sighs. "What will the witnesses say? I'm flying there tomorrow and they'll look me in the eyes again and ask me what I've been able to do." And the answer, more or less, is "nothing."

Proving war crimes is never easy. It's especially hard when you're the only journalist in Russia--or the world--reporting regularly on Chechnya. When Politkovskaya again heads off to the war zone, it'll be her 42d trip. President Vladimir Putin long ago declared the war to be over. But it isn't. A Russian soldier or policeman dies almost every day somewhere in Chechnya; land-mine explosions, ambushes and skirmishes take place constantly. Russian military casualties since 1999 are officially around 3,000, but independent estimates put the figure much higher. Chechen separatists--some of them militant Islamists--have suffered heavily as well, and civilians even more. Some 300,000 refugees have left Chechnya for neighboring republics, where they live in utter destitution, often beyond the reach of international aid organizations. Life back home is even grimmer. Civilians there run a merciless gantlet of harsh demands for support from the rebels and endless harassment and random violence from the equally unforgiving Russians. "It's like a corridor with two tight walls," says Politkovskaya. "There's ruthless vengeance on one side and ruthless vengeance on the other. And between are people who don't know what to do."

Politkovskaya's dispatches chronicle a seemingly endless cycle of violence. Small groups of rebels, intimately familiar with the countryside and local traditions, stage hit-and-run attacks on Russian forces. The Russians respond with zachistki, "cleansing operations" that all too often end up with the disappearance and summary execution of civilians. By Chechen custom, any murder of a family member must be avenged, meaning that every death sends more young men into the mountains to fight. The Russians routinely ...