Kto i︠a︡ takai︠a︡? I pochemu i︠a︡ pishu o vtoroĭ chechenskoĭ voĭne? I︠A︡ zhurnalistka. Rabotai︠u︡ spet︠s︡korom stolichnoĭ "Novoĭ gazety", i ėto edinstvennai︠a︡ prichina, pochemu i︠a︡ uvidela voĭnu, - meni︠a︡ poslali ee osveshchatʹ. Poėtomu i︠a︡ ezzhu v Chechni︠u︡ kazhdyĭ mesi︠a︡t︠s︡, nachinai︠a︡ s ii︠u︡li︠a︡ 1999 goda. Estestvenno, iskhodila vsi︠u︡ Chechni︠u︡ vdolʹ i poperek... Li︠u︡di chasto sprashivai︠u︡t odno i to zhe: "A zachem vy vse ėto pishete? Zachem nas pugaete? Zachem ėto nam?" Uverena, tak nado. Po odnoĭ prostoĭ prichine: my sovremenniki ėtoĭ voĭny, i vse ravno nam otvechatʹ za nee... I togda ne otgovorishʹsi︠a︡ klassicheskim sovetskim: mol, ne byl, ne sostoi︠a︡l, ne uchastvoval... Tak znaĭte zhe. I vy budete svobodny ot t︠s︡inizma. I ot rasizma, v vi︠a︡zkiĭ omut kotorogo vsë bolee skatyvaetsi︠a︡ nashe obshchestvo. I ot skoropalitelʹnykh i strashnykh lichnykh resheniĭ o tom, kto estʹ kto na Kavkaze, i estʹ li tam segodni︠a︡ voobshche geroi. Who am I? And why am I writing about the second Chechen war? I'm a journalist. I work as a special correspondent for the capital's Novaya Gazeta, and this is the only reason why I saw the war - I was sent to cover it. That's why I go to Chechnya every month since July 1999. Naturally, the whole length and breadth of Chechnya was going on... People often ask the same thing: "Why are you writing all this? Why are you scaring us? Why do we need this?" I'm sure that's how it should be. For one simple reason: we are contemporaries of this war, and we still have to answer for it... And then you won't be able to use the classic Soviet excuse: they say, I wasn't there, I wasn't a member, I didn't participate... So know this. And you will be free from cynicism. And from racism, into the viscous pool of which our society is increasingly sliding. And from hasty and terrible personal decisions about who is who in the Caucasus, and whether there are any heroes there today.