Yes, it was independence, all right. The markets were busy, and every house held 20 or 30 people. Once Askhadov came home late and found his house so packed with friends and relatives that he had to sleep in a boiler shed nearby. They hate Moscow, which betrayed them so many times. And they despise Grozny for the ruinous regime that it tried to impose in Chechnya.
People are in a psychological coma.
They are dead tired of being lied to, ignored, humiliated, shot at and bombed. Unabashed by international pressure to minimize the impact of the war on civilians and prevent high casualties, the Russians have pursued a campaign that has hit civilians hard. Electricity and gas have been cut, making conditions extremely difficult as temperatures have fallen with the onset of winter. On the roads, columns of refugees and a marked Red Cross convoy have come under attacks that have cost many people their lives. Doctors, too, have been attacked, hospitals have been closed, and wounded refugees have died for lack of medical help while traveling on the road to the neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia, where hospitals are operating.