DATE=10/25/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA/CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-255445
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian tanks are pushing forward to the
outskirts of the Chechen capital, Grozny, while jets
and artillery bombard suspected rebel positions.
Moscow Correspondent Peter Heinlein reports hospitals
in the breakaway region are crowded with wounded as
the fighting intensifies.
TEXT: A Chechen government spokesman says rebel
fighters beat back a Russian tank advance late Sunday
and Monday two-kilometers from Grozny. In a telephone
interview, spokesman Zaur Tsitsaev told V-O-A the
Russian side suffered heavy losses.
/// TSITSAEV ACT ONE ///
Midnight, military forces of Russian Federation
attacked Pervomaiskoye, two-kilometers from
Grozny. But after fighting more than one-hour,
this attack was stopped, six-tanks were
destroyed and 50-soldiers, and the aggressor had
to go back to his position.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Tsitsaev gave no information about Chechen
casualties in the incident, but said 107-rebels have
been killed since Russian troops began attacks on the
breakaway region more than seven-weeks ago.
He said more than three-thousand civilians have been
killed in that time, and nine-thousand wounded.
A Russian military spokesman said he had no
information about the clash at Pervomaiskoye.
An estimated 200-thousand people have fled Chechnya to
escape the conflict. Tens-of-thousands of others are
staying with friends and relatives in small villages.
Spokesman Tsitsaev estimates 80-percent of the
population of Grozny has gone.
/// TSITSAEV ACT TWO ///
I think before this war the population of Grozny
was about 300-thousand. So now I think it will
be something like 50-60-thousands.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// The president of neighboring Ingushetia,
where 170-thousand Chechen refugees are living, has
fiercely criticized Russia for closing the road
between the two republics. Russian tanks rolled onto
the highway Saturday, choking off the civilian exodus.
Ingush President Ruslan Aushev was quoted as saying
the Russian army is acting like a military
dictatorship. He earlier told a group of visiting
reporters the real cause for the current conflict in
the Caucasus lies not in Chechnya, but in Moscow. ///
END OPT ///
In the Kremlin Monday, President Boris Yeltsin and
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met to discuss the
offensive, which has raised fears of a repeat of the
previous Chechen war from 1994 to 1996. That war
ended in humiliating withdrawal of Russian forces and
virtual independence for the region.
Recent setbacks, including the attack on Grozny's
central market last week that killed an estimated 140-
civilians, have prompted reports that Mr. Yeltsin is
considering replacing his Prime Minister. But in
televised remarks Monday, the Russian leader gave Mr.
Putin a vote of confidence, saying he fully supports
what he calls -- the results of this work. (SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/JWH/RAE
25-Oct-1999 11:15 AM EDT (25-Oct-1999 1515 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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