DATE=10/24/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA/CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-255413
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian troops are tightening a security zone
around Chechnya and preparing a new phase in their
offensive aimed at recapturing the breakaway region.
Moscow Correspondent Peter Heinlein reports several
Chechen towns and villages are being peppered by
rocket and artillery fire.
TEXT: Russian military officials say a cordon is
being established along the border between Chechnya
and the neighboring Ingushetia region to the west.
The road from the Chechen capital, Grozny, to the
Ingush border was sealed Saturday.
The crumbling two-lane highway had served as the main
outlet for Chechens fleeing Russian bomb and rocket
attacks that have claimed many hundreds of civilian
lives during the past month. The exodus to Ingushetia
has intensified as Russian forces advance toward
Grozny, with military commanders suggesting their goal
is to recapture the city.
The authoritative "Echo of Moscow" radio station
(Sunday) quoted a Chechen government spokesman as
saying Russian forces made several attempts to seize
positions on the outskirts of the capital, but were
rebuffed. The spokesman said the Russian side
suffered heavy losses. There was no independent
confirmation of the report.
Chechnya also says a Russian reconnaissance plane was
shot down, the third such incident in two-days.
Russia denies the claim, saying all planes flying war
sorties returned safely.
The "Interfax" news agency reports troops are gearing
up for a second-stage of the Chechen campaign. The
brief dispatch, quoting a Russia command spokesman,
gave no further details.
But Russian planes and artillery were said to be
pounding more than a dozen separate locations in the
breakaway region. Russia says the targets are rebel
bases and supply routes. Chechnya says the majority
of those killed and wounded in the attacks were
civilians.
/// REST OPT ///
In another development, a Moscow newspaper reports
that Chechnya's envoy to Moscow has been arrested.
The "Kommersant" daily said Mairbek Vachagayev,
President Aslan Maskhadov's representative in Moscow,
was detained Thursday after what was described as a --
road incident.
The report said Mr. Vachagayev's car made a dangerous
maneuver in front of a van carrying operatives of the
Interior Ministry's organized crime department.
Russian police were quoted as saying the envoy and his
driver were both carrying weapons at the time of their
arrest. A Chechen official later called the incident
a provocation and said Mr. Vachagayev would have to
have been crazy to be carrying a weapon in Moscow.
President Maskhadov responded by ordering the Chechen
representation in Moscow closed. "Kommersant" noted
that former Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev took a
similar action in 1994, in what at the time was
considered a Chechen declaration of war on Russia.
(SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/ALW/RAE
24-Oct-1999 10:52 AM EDT (24-Oct-1999 1452 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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