"The Generals Are Prepared To Carry Out any Order, but They Don't Want to Conquer Chechnya for the Time Being" by Obshchaya Gazeta Military Columnist Viktor Litovkin Moscow Obshchaya Gazeta 30 Sep 1999 The cordon sanitaire around Chechnya is becoming increasingly solid. The military personnel, who are carrying out the order of their Supreme Commander-in-Chief - President Boris Yeltsin and Government Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, are concentrating enormous forces on the borders of the rebellious republic. As of today, the most powerful 3rd Motorized Rifle Division from Nizhniy Novgorod (10,850 soldiers and officers, 251 tanks - mainly T-80s, 494 armored combat vehicles, and 134 artillery pieces according to the table of authorization and equipment) has been transferred to Stavropol Kray and Ingushetiya to the 205th Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade from Budennovsk (4,076 soldiers and officers, 50 T-72 tanks and 191 armored vehicles, including 33 BTR-80s [armored transport vehicles] and BMPs [armored personnel vehicles], and 23 artillery pieces according to the table of authorization and equipment), to the motorized rifle brigades and regiments from Vladikavkaz and Prokhladnyy, the 7th Airborne Division from Novorossiysk, and internal troops units. The 20th Motorized Rifle Division from Volgograd (10,884 men, 93 T-72 tanks, 340 armored combat vehicles, and 99 artillery pieces) has been added to the 136th Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade from Buynaksk (3,762 soldiers and officers, 32 tanks and 237 armored combat vehicles, and 24 artillery pieces) and to the internal troops units in Dagestan. That is without taking into account the naval infantry battalions from the Northern, Baltic, and Pacific fleets with the combat vehicles attached to them, the regiments from Taman Motorized Rifle and Kantemirovka Tank Division from the Moscow area, and the battalions of the heavy artillery brigades... Of course, not all of them are located directly in the "cordon sanitaire" but that, of course, is an enormous force against 10,000-12,000 guerrillas with hundreds of armored combat vehicles and twinned air defense systems, and several hundred antitank missile systems. All the more so that Russian Air Force aircraft (Su-25 ground attack aircraft, Su-24 frontal aviation bombers, and Su-24MR and An-30 reconnaissance aircraft) are decreasing that combat potential on a daily basis. Russian aircraft conduct 50-55 sorties each day, photograph Chechen territory, and conduct strikes using laser-guided missiles and guided bombs against ammunition and POL [petroleum, oil, and lubricants] dumps, guerrilla camps and concentrations, petroleum processing plants, radar sites... In Air Force Commander-in-Chief Colonel-General Anatoliy Kornukov's words, more than 1,700 aircraft sorties (of them, 1,300 combat sorties) have already been carried out, and 2,000 guerrillas, more than 250 long-term fortifications, approximately 150 terrorist detachment bases and areas of concentration, over 60 motor vehicles and armored vehicles have been destroyed, 30 bridges have been destroyed, and six radio relay stations and four radar sites have been put out of commission. Obstructions have been created in 10 mountain passes and approximately 250 kilometers of mountain roads have been destroyed or mined. The general stated that his pilots have not conducted a single strike against Chechnya's populated areas and they will not start doing that, even if the guerrillas hide there. (According to a Radio Liberty broadcast, a Chechen school was subjected to bombing. But the Air Force command authorities refute that. - V.L.). The goal of the air operations, said the commander-in-chief, is to deprive the terrorists of the slightest possibility to resume attacks on the lands that border the republics and also the complete destruction of the bandit armies. But it is not known how that will be done without a ground operation. According to the canons of military science, victory is achieved only when your soldiers have occupied enemy territory, and in no other way. But it is unclear whether one can also call Chechen land "enemy territory". And it is also not understood precisely who that "enemy" is. If they are bandits, then they don't have "territory" and not a regular army but only the militia and internal troops can score a victory over them. Nevertheless, not only troops and generals are tightening the ring of the blockade around Chechnya. The Military News Agency reports that the leadership of Georgia and Azerbaijan has warned through diplomatic channels about the unacceptability of looking the other way while local public organizations and funds and the Mujaheddin from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries assist in supplying the terrorists with weapons and money. Otherwise, Military News Agency sources assert that Russia has promised to open the border with Abkhaziya, to halt the transportation of Caspian oil across its territory, and to prevent the construction of oil pipelines across other countries. Russian Armed Forces General Staff personnel explained to an Obshchaya Gazeta military columnist: all of these steps are being undertaken to cause a crisis of political, economic, and clan interests within Chechen society and to nudge groups, which are hostile to each other, toward combat operations against each other, and then it will be much easier and safer to resolve the problem of the rebellious republic. I sensed the following from the conversations with my interlocutors: General Staff personnel understand that they need to act very accurately and precisely in order not to cross that invisible line, through excessive force pressure, beyond which the clan armies, which are hostile toward each other, will not weaken but, on the contrary, will unite against a common enemy. Time will tell whether or not that will happen. But serious military personnel prefer to call the current militant statements with regard to the guerrillas, both by the prime minister and also by the minister of defense, the deputies of the chief of the General Staff, and the Air Force commander-in-chief, nothing other than the psychological indoctrination of the guerrillas and Russia's population. Ministry of Defense personnel say that the Army is a surgical instrument. It will be totally prepared today or in the next few weeks to conduct some or other military operation, even a ground operation. But whether or not it will be conducted - not generals but reserve colonels - the country's president and prime minister - will make that decision. So far, the Army has not been tasked with that mission. THIS REPORT MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION IS PROHIBITED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
