DATE=1/18/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-258172
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian military officials say federal troops
have broken through rebel lines into the center of the
Chechen capital, Grozny. Moscow Correspondent Eve
Conant reports federal forces are also attacking
targets in Chechnya's southern mountains.
TEXT: Russia's military says its troops have reached
the center of the rebel-held capital, Grozny.
Military commanders say troops were expanding their
zone of control following heavy air and artillery
attacks.
A Defense Ministry spokesman said federal forces were
approaching the center from two directions and that,
in his words -- the decisive phase of the liberation
of Grozny has started. Russian military press
spokesman Valentin Astafayev says the military is
working to avoid casualties.
/// ACT ASTAFAYEV, RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE UNDER ///
He says our troops are moving forward in Grozny and
are isolating rebel groups from one another. But we
are not storming the capital and there are no specific
time limits. He says troops could take Grozny much
faster, but such actions would result in higher
Russian casualties.
Russian news agencies quoted some federal commanders
as saying Grozny would be taken within days.
A Chechen presidential spokesman says Russian troops
were storming the capital from all sides and federal
soldiers had seized a strategically important bridge.
But a Chechen commander dismissed reports rebels had
been given orders to abandon Grozny.
Russia's military says it is also striking targets in
Chechnya's southern mountains, attacking the town of
Vedeno and what officials say are rebel bases in the
Argun gorge.
A delegation from the Council of Europe is visiting
the North Caucasus on a fact-finding mission.
Delegation leader David Russell-Johnston has called
for Moscow to start negotiations and call an immediate
cease-fire. The team is expected to visit areas in
Russian-occupied Chechnya.
In the neighboring republic of Ingushetia, a powerful
explosion ripped through the regional capital's
Supreme Court building in Nazran. No one was hurt.
Tens-of-thousands of Chechen refugees have sought
shelter in Ingushetia since the beginning of Moscow's
military campaign. (SIGNED)
NEB/EC/GE/ENE/RAE
18-Jan-2000 10:32 AM EDT (18-Jan-2000 1532 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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