DATE=8/22/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA-DAGESTAN UPDATE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-253010
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russia's Prime minister has summoned
security chiefs for an urgent meeting
as the conflict in the southern republic of
Dagestan rages for a third week. VOA's
Correspondent Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports
both government troops and Muslim rebels are
claiming gains in the latest fighting.
TEXT: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called a rare
Sunday meeting his defense and interior
ministers, the army chief of staff and the head
of the domestic intelligence service. News
agencies say the discussions focused on specific
military operations aimed at wiping out
Muslim insurgents who control several villages in
the mountains of Dagestan, along the
border with breakaway Chechnya.
///opt/// Just days after he was named prime
minister this month, Mr. Putin predicted the
rebels would be wiped out within two weeks. With
that deadline looming, however, the rebels appear
to be well-entrenched, and military leaders admit
the conflict is likely to drag on for months.
///end opt///
As the security chiefs met, Russian jets and
artillery pounded the rebel held region, while
Ground forces mounted a ferocious offensive
Sunday against a rebel base at the strategic
mountain village of Tando.
The two sides made widely conflicting claims
about the outcome of the battle. Russian
sources say they seized part of Tando during the
day. The insurgents, however, posted a note
on the internet saying rebel fighters had counter
attacked and smashed a Russian paratroop
unit.
///opt/// Government forces also claimed to have
taken control of the Kharami Pass on the main
road linking Chechnya and Dagestan. But a rebel
spokesman called the government claim
"meaningless", saying his fighters use other
routes through the mountains, and had not been
in control of the Kharami Pass. ///end opt.///
There were also sharply differing accounts of
casualties, with each side claiming to have
inflicted heavy losses on the other. But there
was no independent confirmation.
Western journalists have been strongly
discouraged from visiting the region because of
the danger of kidnappings. In the past, however,
both the rebels and the government have been
known to exaggerate enemy casualty figures, while
minimizing their own.///rest opt///
Commanders on the ground say at this point, their
main goal is to keep the insurgents bottled
up in a few mountain villages while Moscow builds
up its troops and equipment in the area
for an expected major offensive.
The fighting in Dagestan is the worst in Russia
since the separatist war in Chechnya in the
mid-nineties. That war ended when government
troops withdrew in defeat from the
breakaway Muslim region after 21 months of
fighting.
Since then, Chechnya has ruled itself, although
Moscow says it is still part of Russia. (signed)
NEB/PT
22-Aug-1999 17:30 PM LOC (22-Aug-1999 2130 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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