A halt to Vladimir Putin's criminal war against the Chechen people is long overdue. Even the Russian president cannot any longer pretend that his policy of suppression and annihilation is working.
Civilian casualties are in the uncounted tens of thousands.
Mr Putin has imposed pro-Moscow puppet administrators and talks of reconstruction aid. But such self-serving gestures ignore the reality on the ground, where destruction goes on unchecked. The secessionists led by Chechnya's elected president, Aslan Maskhadov, although much reduced, fight on guerrilla-style and show not the slightest sign of giving up. Thus does Mr Putin reap the harvest of hatred that his murderous blitzkrieg has sowed. Mr Putin's decision to place the main KGB successor agency, the FSB, in charge in Chechnya, and to withdraw some troops, may mean that the indiscriminate army bombardments of civilian areas that usually follow Chechen attacks will in time be reduced.