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DATE=8/7/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA-CAUCASUS (L)
NUMBER=2-252573
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT
INTRO:  Russian helicopters have fired on an armed 
group that surrounded a village in a remote northern 
Caucasus region bordering Chechnya.  V-O-A Moscow 
correspondent Peter Heinlein reports Prime Minister 
Sergei Stepashin has dispatched senior military 
commanders to the region.
TEXT: Russian Interior Ministry officials say 
helicopter gunships attacked a group of armed men 
around the village of Botlikh, in the southern 
republic of Dagestan, not far from the Chechen border.  
The Interfax news agency reported a battle was raging 
Saturday evening between government forces and what 
were described as Islamic militants.
Official sources say the gunmen crossed the border 
into Dagestan early in the day and took up positions 
around three mountain villages.  Interfax described 
the border crossing as an invasion, and said the 
invading force included as many as 500 men.  Other 
reports put the number at about 200.
The reports could not be independently confirmed.  Few 
western journalists dare to venture into the northern 
Caucasus around Chechnya, where kidnappings for ransom 
have become commonplace in recent years. 
Russian authorities immediately sent an additional 
force to the rugged and sparsely populated region, 
including one-thousand police officers, a battalion of 
Interior Ministry troops, and a motorized infantry 
brigade. 
Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin dispatched the army 
chief of staff and the chief of Interior Ministry 
troops to the Dagestani capital, Makhachkala.  They 
are to arrive Sunday.
Prime Minister Stepashin played a major role in 
Russia's disastrous war in Chechnya from 1994 to 1996, 
which left tens-of-thousands of people dead.  Chechnya 
won de-facto independence in the war, though Moscow 
maintains it remains part of Russia.
In televised comments Saturday, Mr. Stepashin called 
the invaders bandits, and said they would be dealt 
with appropriately.
            ///Stepashin act in Russian, then fade ///
He says -- Russia will not repeat its mistakes of 1994 
and `95 in the northern Caucasus.  No more Russian 
soldiers will die there.
Chechen officials are denying there was an invasion.  
Interfax quoted a senior Chechen field commander as 
saying no gunmen crossed the border into Dagestan.  
The commander is reported to have said the only forces 
in the area are what he called -- Islamic Units of 
Dagestan, and they are unarmed.
A Chechen customs official earlier said authorities in 
the breakaway region are doing all they can to prevent 
armed groups from crossing the border.  Customs chief 
Khumid Dalayev was quoted as saying -- Besides, the 
border is packed with Russian units.   (SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/DW/RAE
07-Aug-1999 13:18 PM EDT (07-Aug-1999 1718 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.