DATE=8/20/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA - DAGESTAN (L)
NUMBER=2-252964
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian warplanes have bombed targets
inside the breakaway Chechnya region in an
attempt to cut off supply lines to Muslim rebels
battling government troops in neighboring
Dagestan. V-O-A Moscow correspondent Peter
Heinlein reports the fighting is being
accompanied by an increasingly aggressive
propaganda war.
TEXT: On day 14 of the North Caucasus conflict,
a Defense Ministry official said Russian jets
were pounding two Chechen villages where Islamic
insurgents were preparing to cross into the
combat zone in the nearby mountains of Dagestan.
The official says air strikes in Chechnya are
becoming increasingly frequent, but that Russian
ground forces have not yet crossed into the
breakaway region.
Chechnya has been effectively independent of
Moscow's rule since Russian troops withdrew in
1996 after losing a 21-month war against Chechen
rebels. But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin said Friday the insurgents in Dagestan must
not be allowed to use Chechnya as a safe haven.
/// PUTIN ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
He says, "if we are challenged by international
terrorist groups, we will respond in the interest
of national security."
When he was appointed prime minister August
Ninth, Mr. Putin predicted the uprising in the
restive Northern Caucasus would be crushed within
two weeks. But after 14 days of punishing air
and ground attacks, the rebels remain defiantly
in control of almost the entire patch of rugged
mountainous territory they have held since the
fighting began.
And as the conflict enters its third week, the
two sides are also locked in a fierce propaganda
war. Each claims the other is trying to cover up
heavy losses on the battlefield.
A senior Interior Ministry official this week
said 40 Russian soldiers and more than 500
insurgents had been killed in the fighting. A
spokesman for the rebels was quoted Friday as
saying only 15 of his fighters had died, as
compared to more than 200 dead among government
troops and Dagestani volunteers.
The government's frustration at its inability to
control the flow of information showed this week
when the Press Minister publicly scolded all
leading television stations for showing footage
of rebel leader Shamil Basayev. One state-run
channel was singled out for special criticism for
carrying a segment showing Mr. Basayev saying
Russia's oppressive rule had forced Muslims to
take up arms against it.
The rebels, holed up in mountain hideouts against
the fierce Russian air assault, have resorted to
the internet to get their message out. A
bulletin posted in the insurgents' web site
Friday, said most of the casualties in the combat
zone are civilians.
Other reports say hospitals in Dagestan and
Chechnya are filled to overflowing with the
wounded, most of them suffering lost limbs from
land mines. Both sides are said to be using
mines as a weapon in the conflict. (Signed)
Neb/PFH/JWH/ENEkl
20-Aug-1999 11:52 AM EDT (20-Aug-1999 1552 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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