Vladimir Shamanov

Vladimir Shamanov ("Владимир Анатольевич Шаманов", born 1957) is a Lieutenant General in the Russian Army, the commander of the 58th Army and the former Russian politician. He has an image of a "super-hawk" among the Russian military leaders.

Biography

Vladimir Shamanov is a recipient of the Hero of the Russian Federation decoration for his service in Chechnya, but has been strongly criticized by human rights groups for alleged war crimes commited by the federal troops under his orders during the Chechen Wars. Shamanov was removed from duty in January 2000, quoting health reasons, and for a period he was a civilian politician, becoming governor of the Ulyanovsk Oblast region of Russian Federation.

As of 2007, Shamanov was a counselor to Russia's defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, and co-chairman of the U.S - Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs (USRJC) which seeks to determine the fates of U.S. personnel who remain unaccounted-for from World War II and the Cold War Era. In November 2007, his impending return to the military service has been announced. [cite web
url= http://lenta.ru/news/2007/11/13/shamanov/
title= ru icon Генерал Владимир Шаманов возвращается в Минобороны
publisher=lenta.ru
date=2007-11-13
accessdate = 2007-11-13] As of August 2008, he is currently the commander of the Russian forces in the 2008 War in Georgia. [ [http://english.hotnews.ro/stiri-top_news-3925990-russias-symbolic-move-vladimir-samanov-lead-peace-keeping-troops-abkhazia.htm Russia's symbolic move: Vladimir Samanov to lead peace keeping troops in Abkhazia] , ITAR-TASS, 12 August 2008]

Controversies

Already during the First Chechen War, the Chechens called Shamanov the "second Yermolov", alluding to the Russian Imperial general infamous of his brutality during the 19th century Caucasian War. [ [http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/alikhadzhievinterview.pdf Interview with Ruslan Alikhadzhiev] , United States Marine Corps, 1998]

As Gennady Troshev, another Russian commander in Chechnya, wrote in his book "My War", Shamanov "was too hot-tempered and direct in his relations with the Chechen population" [preferring] "to choose the shortest way to victory (...) [which] resulted in numerous casualties among Russian soldiers." [http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373301 From Military Butcher to Political Loser: A Portrait of General Shamanov] , The Jamestown Foundation, April 5, 2007]

Aslambek Aslakhanov, a retired MVD general who was Vladimir Putin's advisor on Chechnya, called Shamanov a "butcher" and a "one-man curse on the Chechen people": "Chechens talk about Shamanov like a plague that has descended on their heads, a disease like AIDS. He is drowning in blood. He cynically believes that all Chechens – men and women, even children – are bandits." [http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jan/19/news/mn-14326 Russia’s ‘Cruel’ Soldier Comes Home] , "Los Angeles Times", January 19, 2001]

The director of the Moscow office of Memorial, the human rights group founded by the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, said: "His subordinates are definitely guilty of war crimes, and I believe a serious investigation would show Shamanov’s direct guilt in war crimes as well, that he ordered them. He has a serious xenophobic streak. He’s cruel, but it comes from his sense of duty. He’s honest about it, but that doesn’t make it less frightening."

In December 1999 Shamanov was awarded his second Hero of the Russian Federation medal for actions around the village of Alkhan-Yurt earlier that month. However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) have asked the Russian government to open an investigation into his role the incident in Chechnya, which HRW has declared a "." [ [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2001/06/14/russia177.htm U.S. President Must Press Russia on Chechnya Abuses: Criminal Investigation Urged on Role of Top General in Massacre] , Human Rights Watch, 06/14/01] Shamanov was reported as threatening to shoot villagers who pleaded with him to halt the abuses. Later, he dismissed calls for accountability for the abuses, saying that the Russian soldiers were doing "a sacred thing". [ [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/russia_chechnya2/index.htm "NO HAPPINESS REMAINS": CIVILIAN KILLINGS, PILLAGE, AND RAPE IN ALKHAN-YURT, CHECHNYA] , Human Rights Watch, April 2000] In a "Novaya Gazeta" interview published in June 2000, Shamanov eventually admitted there have been numerous cases of looting by the Russian military in Chechnya, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/797255.stm Russian general admits looting in Chechnya] , BBC News, 19 June, 2000] but he also said he viewed his image as a "cruel general" as a complement and that he believed the wives and children of rebel fighters to also be "bandits" who needed to be "destroyed". Nevertheless, he denied the accusations of human rights violations in the foreign media. In the 2004 "The Washington Post" interview, Shamanov rejected the allegations as "fairy tales" and suggested that human rights groups had planted the bodies in Alkhan-Yurt and "fabricated" a slaughter. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/29/AR2007032901967_pf.html Bush, Smiling With the 'Butcher of Chechnya'] , "The Washington Post", March 30, 2007]

Shamanov's forces are also believed to have looted and pillaged and killed in the other places during the second Chechen campaign, among them at Katyr-Yurt (in 2005 the European Court of Human Rights held Russia responsible for civilian deaths during the indiscriminate bombing of Katyr-Yurt [ [http://iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=239843&apc_state=henicrs2005 European Court Rules Against Moscow] , Institute for War and Peace Reporting, March 2, 2005] ), Shami-Yurt and Gekhi-Chu.

In March 2000, Shamanov exhibited strong sympathy towards the war crimes suspect Colonel Yuri Budanov. Budanov, Shamanov trumpeted, was one of his "best commanders" and offered this challenge: "Don't put your paws on the image of a Russian soldier and officer." [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=10&issue_id=461&article_id=22474 A MILITARY "SUPER-HAWK" SPEAKS OUT ON CHECHNYA.] , The Jamestown Foundation, November 20, 2000] Later, Shamanov came to Rostov-on-the-Don to defend Budanov during trial and expressed his solidarity with him. Ultimately, Budanov was convicted for the March 2000 kidnapping and murder of the young Chechen woman Elza Kungaeva. On September 21, 2004, Shamanov, now the Ulyanovsk regional governor, backed a pardon for Budanov, sparking anger in Chechnya even among the pro-Moscow locals. [ [http://www.eng.yabloko.ru/Publ/2004/PAPERS/09/040921_guard.html Russian Governor Backs Colonel's Pardon] , Associated Press, September 21, 2004]

In March 2007 Shamanov met in the White House with the U.S. President George W. Bush, which was criticised by human rights groups. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802068.html Bush Meets Russian Faulted For Atrocities] , "The Washington Post", March 29, 2007] [ [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/03/30/011.html Bush Visit Prompts an Outcry] , "The Moscow Times", 30 March 2007] [ [http://www.kommersant.com/p755074/Vladimir_Shamanov_U.S.-Russian_commission_missing_soldiers/ Russian Visitor an Embarrassment to Bush] , "Kommersant", Apr. 02, 2007] "This isn't someone the U.S. president should be meeting with. This is someone the president should be calling for an investigation of," HRW commented. [ [http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C03%5C30%5Cstory_30-3-2007_pg7_33 Bush’s meeting with ‘Chechens’ killer’ causes concern] , "Daily Times", March 30, 2007] Later, the White House explained that it was not aware of the allegations against the general before their meeting and that it is "unlikely" that Bush would have meet and pose to photo with Shamanov if he had been aware of the allegations. [ [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879208438&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull HRW: Bush visitor responsible for rights abuses in Chechnya] , "The Jerusalem Post", Mar 29, 2007]

References

External links

* [http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jan/19/news/mn-14326 Russia’s ‘Cruel’ Soldier Comes Home] , "Los Angeles Times", January 19, 2001
* [http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373301 From Military Butcher to Political Loser: A Portrait of General Shamanov] , The Jamestown Foundation, April 5, 2007