The longstanding interest that John le Carré (David Cornwell) maintained in Chechnya bore fruit in the novel Our Game, published in 1995, during the first Russian-Chechen war. I was delighted to help and intrigued when he “borrowed” my home in Shepherd Market, central London, as the fictional safe house.
David’s Observer article Demons Dance As the West Watches (1994) detailed the plight of the Chechens: he was appalled by the human rights abuses then and in 1999-2000, when pro-independence Chechens were overwhelmed by Russian forces. In 2001 he joined in the founding of the UK charity MARCCH – Medical Aid and Relief for the Children of Chechnya. His misgivings were borne out shortly before his death when Britain imposed personal sanctions on three senior Chechen figures for human rights abuses.
