5,000 CIVILIANS LEFT GROZNY, BUT MILITANTS PREVENT THEM FROM LEAVING THE CITY, FIRING AT SECURITY CORRIDORS AND PLANTING MINES ON APPROACHES TO THEM
29.12.1999 12:10 RIA Novosti As many as 5,000 civilians have left Grozny. Militants are trying to prevent the rest of them from leaving the city, firing at security corridors and planting land mines on approaches to them, said First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Manilov. He stressed that federal forces give local residents assistance wherever the latter try to leave Grozny. On the recent meeting between Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu and Khozh-Akhmed Yarikhanov, Manilov said that its aim was to make illegal armed formations guarantee on their part an unimpeded exit of civilians from the Chechen capital. The General Staff spokesman stressed that these talks are "a purely humanitarian mission" aimed at saving the peaceful population. As to the military part of the operation to liberate Grozny from bandit formations, "all officers and men feel that they rely on the support of authorities and the people" , he said. "We are acting according to a single plan", he added. Over the past 24 hours, noted Manilov, the units of federal forces have broken the group of bandit formations into separate parts and consistently, without engaging in open clashes with terrorists, are liberating the districts of the Chechen capital from three directions. In actual fact, from all sides the concentrations of terrorists are diminishing and their possibilities to offer resistance are narrowing, noted the Russian general. In his opinion, terrorists have only one alternative - to lay down arms and then, under Russian laws, investigation will be launched into their cases. "Those who have not stained themselves with crimes will be pardoned, whereas those who have will be brought to account" , said Valery Manilov.
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