DATE=11/16/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256222
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian news agencies report President Boris
Yeltsin will meet this week in Istanbul with President
Clinton at a summit of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe. President Yeltsin has
vowed to continue the military offensive in Chechnya
despite international pressure to scale down the
campaign. V-O-A Moscow correspondent Eve Conant
reports Russian military officials deny reports of
massive civilian casualties.
TEXT: President Yeltsin is expected to face heavy
international criticism of Russia's military offensive
in Chechnya when he meets world leaders in Istanbul.
But Moscow has repeatedly rebuffed Western requests to
scale down the campaign and Mr. Yeltsin says he fully
supports what he calls the "anti-terrorist" offensive.
A top military commander said Tuesday Russian troops
will continue to rely on air strikes and artillery
attacks instead of storming Chechen villages and
cities. General Vladimir Shamanov told reporters
Russia is in no hurry to complete the campaign. His
troops were reportedly shelling the town of Achkoi-
Martan in an attempt to consolidate control in
Chechnya's northwestern regions.
Chechen officials say more than four-thousand
civilians have been killed since September, but
casualty figures cannot be independently confirmed.
A representative of the international human rights
group Amnesty International, Mariana Katsarova, told
reporters she questioned Russia's aims in Chechnya.
/// KATSAROVA ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE
UNDER ///
She says, "Many of the attacks, including precision
attacks on populated areas of Chechnya, in fact may be
premeditated strikes against the civilian population."
But in a newspaper interview, Russia's air force chief
called reports of heavy civilian casualties a "bluff
and an attempt to discredit Russian troops."
Russian officials also say that reports describing a
"humanitarian catastrophe" in neighboring republics
are exaggerated. The head of Russia's migration
service, Vladimir Kalamanov, told reporters in
Ingushetia that Russia is handling the refugee influx.
/// KALAMANOV ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE
UNDER ///
He says he will "once again confirm that the Russian
government is keeping its promises. The government
has raised the necessary funds and products to deal
with this."
But Russian human rights activists warn that refugees
do not have enough water, food and fuel.
International aid groups say many of the now more than
200-thousand refugees who have fled the bombs are
living in dire conditions. (Signed)
NEB/EC/JWH/JP
16-Nov-1999 10:46 AM EDT (16-Nov-1999 1546 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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