DATE=12/6/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON / CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-256898
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton is warning Moscow that it
will pay a heavy price in world public opinion and its
struggle with radicals in the Caucasus region if it
follows through with its threatened drive against the
Chechen capital, Grozny. V-O-A's David Gollust has
more from the White House.
TEXT: Mr. Clinton's comments were his strongest to
date on the Russian drive in Chechnya. They followed
Moscow's ultimatum to the citizens of Grozny to leave
the besieged capital within five days or face the
consequences.
Addressing a White House audience, Mr. Clinton said
the Russian deadline threatens the lives of the old,
infirm, the injured and other innocent civilians in
Grozny who either cannot leave or are too afraid to do
so.
The President, who has repeatedly called for Moscow to
negotiate a settlement in the Caucasus, said Russia
will find it costly to follow through on its threats:
/// CLINTON ACT ///
Russia will pay a heavy price for those actions,
with each passing day sinking more deeply into a
morass that will intensify extremism and
diminish its own standing in the world.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Clinton said he told President Boris Yeltsin at
the O-S-C-E Summit in Istanbul last month that the
Russian fight against terrorism "is right" -- as the
President put it -- but the methods being used in
Chechnya are "wrong and counter-productive."
Russia, which sustained heavy combat losses in
Chechnya between 1994 and 1996, has been trying to
minimize army casualties this time around by relying
more on long-range artillery and air strikes.
Mr. Clinton said such tactics have already caused
heavy losses of life and driven at least 200-thousand
people from their homes. He says he is "deeply
disturbed" by indications that innocent civilians will
continue to bear the brunt of the war. (Signed)
NEB/DAG/WTW
06-Dec-1999 16:26 PM EDT (06-Dec-1999 2126 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
