DATE=12/22/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA FIGHTING (L)
NUMBER=2-257395
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
says Moscow's military campaign in Chechnya is
nearing completion. V-O-A Moscow correspondent
Eve Conant reports federal forces have unleashed
one of their heaviest artillery barrages yet over
the Chechen capital, Grozny.
TEXT: Chechen guerillas vow to defend Grozny to
their last man, but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
says Russia is close to completing what he calls
"its final aim to destroy terrorism."
/// ACT PUTIN IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE ///
He says, "It's close, I can assure you. But we do
not want to set any dates." He says, "Our first
concern is how to save the lives of our soldiers
and of civilians."
Russian news agencies quote federal commanders in
Chechnya as saying they have received orders to
seize Grozny and have completed preparations.
The French news agency quotes military sources as
saying troops are on full combat alert, ready to
move forward into Grozny on a half-hour's notice.
Grozny's mayor says federal troops have launched
their heaviest assault on Grozny in the past ten
days, with shelling in all districts of the
besieged capital. Chechen commanders say rebels
and troops are engaged in street battles in
several of the capital's suburbs.
Combat is also reported near the Shatoi gorge,
one of the main southern routes into the Caucasus
Mountains, where rebels have set up military
bases.
Chechen rebels claim to have surrounded and
inflicted losses on a group of Russian
paratroopers who parachuted into the southern
mountains with orders to cut off rebel supply
lines. Russian Colonel Gennady Alyokhin denied
the rebel claims.
// ACT ALYOKHIN IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE //
"The question is just who surrounded whom," he
says. "The paratroopers have blocked off the
militants from receiving weapons. Reports that
they are surrounded is disinformation."
Meanwhile, Chechen refugees in the neighboring
Republic of Ingushetia say federal troops have
moved entire trainloads of refugees against their
will into Russian-controlled areas of Chechnya.
(Signed)
NEB/EC/GE/KL
22-Dec-1999 12:04 PM EDT (22-Dec-1999 1704 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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