Schools Not Bullets.

It was a remarkable event due to several reasons.
First of all such projects have not been implemented either in the town or in the entire Republic for 15 years already. Therefore this school has indeed turned a very good present for the children and teachers who live in the tumbledown capital of Chechnya. The school is designed to accommodate 540 pupils, however with two-shift system the school can be attended by twice as many children.
Secondly, the new school has been built neither for federal nor local money but for the money of the well-known Russian businessman Mikhail Gutseriev. Therefore the school has proved a significant bonus in favor of the budget. 
It is interesting to know that the new building has been put up where there used to be another school completely destroyed by the rebels. It was this school in which Mikhail Gutseriev used to be a pupil. But most probably it was not only the memory that made Mikhail Gutseriev go in for the construction. This school was not the first charity done by the businessman. He called it himself “one more contribution into the restoration course of Chechnya”. Speaking at the ceremonial opening of the new educational institution Gutseriev promised that each year he would commission a new project in Chechnya.
These words of Gutseriev were warmly accepted by the compatriots. Later, already after the meeting they repeated his phrase many times: “Man with the ruble is stronger than man with the gun”. As a matter of fact this phrase was said to the point. But it turns out that somebody was annoyed. Or rather it annoyed one Chechen, a most notorious person who also used to be concerned with construction, but for the last fifteen years has not built a single house say nothing about a school.
The above-said is related to Shamil Basayev who burst out threatening on the site of the Chechenian rebels. As usual the threats were addressed to Russia’s authorities, special services and specifically to Mikhail Gutseriev. The message was generously spiced with quotations from the Koran which fact didn’t have much effect upon the usual style of Samil Abu-Idris (it’s how Basayev refers to himself). Gutseriev was promised to “have back in his own house the blood of the Beslan shahids and to get choked with the blood and taste all its bitterness”.
It should be noted for the sake of justice that the Basayev message is dedicated not so much to Gutseriev. Indeed Basayev couldn’t help being hurt by the fact of the construction of the new school and which is more important by the response of the elders of Chechnya. (As is well known by way of thanking him they decided to give the name of Mikhail Gutseriev to a street in one of the villages in the Republic).
The comments on these declarations made by high-ranking military and other officials proved quite unanimous. Or rather the comments as such were not issued. Nobody wanted to enlarge upon the gibberish just so the message of Shamil Abu-Idris was called.
The reaction of Gutseriev to the threats of the terrorist is not known either. However a source close to him cited the businessman as saying: “I assume there is no point in making comments on what is said by an outlaw. I have been building and will keep building. Chechnya needs schools not bullets”.