DATE=9/1/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / DAGESTAN (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-253332
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian forces say they have occupied a
village in the southern Dagestan region that had
been under control of Muslim militants for almost
a year. From Moscow, V-O-A correspondent Peter
Heinlein reports that Russian jets and artillery
are pounding suspected hideouts used by the
militants.
TEXT: Russia's Interior Ministry says its troops
are at a decisive stage in efforts to restore
federal authority in Karamakhi, a Dagestani
village where leaders last year renounced Russian
rule and proclaimed Islamic law.
Karamakhi, about 40 kilometers south of the
regional capital, Makhachkala, has a population
of about 10-thousand people, but most fled when
federal troops arrived last week and announced
they were going to retake the village by force.
An interior ministry spokesman (Wednesday) said
soldiers are making a house to house search in
Karamakhi, while helicopter gunships and
artillery pound suspected militant hideouts
nearby.
Russian and Dagestani authorities chose to ignore
the imposition of Muslim Sharia law in Karamakhi
last year. But after crushing a Chechen-led
insurgency in Dagestan's western mountains last
month, federal troops shifted their attention to
other areas believed to be sheltering rebels.
Karamakhi, known as a stronghold of the
fundamentalist Wahhabi sect of Islam, was the
first target.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, appointed last
month just as fighting broke out in the Dagestani
mountains, Wednesday said his government would
use force against any Russian regions that try to
break free of Moscow's rule.
/// Putin act in Russian, then fade to... ///
He says, "As for Dagestan, I can say in those
areas where military actions are carried out,
Russian authority has been ignored for a year."
He added, "this will not be tolerated."
Mr. Putin, however, dismissed suggestions that
the Dagestani insurgents might be responsible for
Tuesday's bomb blast at an underground shopping
mall adjacent to the Kremlin. Muslim extremists
were originally named as prime suspects in the
blast, but the focus of the investigation has
since shifted to a self-proclaimed revolutionary
group protesting the growth of Western-style
consumerism in Russia. (Signed)
NEB/PFH/GE/LTD/KL
01-Sep-1999 11:22 AM EDT (01-Sep-1999 1522 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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