DATE=1/24/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-258372
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Chechen capital, Grozny is engulfed in
battle as Russian troops push forward in a furious
attempt to capture the last major population center in
rebel hands. Moscow Correspondent Peter Heinlein
reports Russia's media, which until recently have
solidly backed the war effort, have begun to question
government casualty reports.
TEXT: As fighting raged in the streets of Grozny,
Russia's privately-owned N-T-V television channel said
the number of soldiers killed in Chechnya could be
several times higher than official figures suggest.
Government estimates have been fuzzy, but indicate
about 600 federal troops have died since the ground
invasion began nearly four-months ago.
But N-T-V contradicts the official figure. N-T-V
correspondent Boris Sobolyev gained access to the
hospital where the bodies of soldiers killed in action
are identified and spoke to relatives and others who
have been inside the morgue.
/// ACT OF MAN IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO. ///
There is a real flow of bodies, 30 a day minimum.
This man, whose name was not given, said he had spoken
to the person who does post mortems on the bodies.
Correspondent Sobolyev also spoke to workers whose job
it is to load bodies into special zinc coffins and
shipping them by train to their homes for burial.
/// ACT OF Q&A IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO. ///
The correspondent asks - how many bodies did you
receive today? The worker replies - fifteen. The
correspondent then asks - 15 just today, or 15 every
day? It depends - the worker answers - Saturday there
were 30.
Correspondent Sobolyev said he was allowed to speak to
laboratory workers in the hospital only on condition
that he not ask about the number of casualties. But
he was able to make estimates based on the number of
folders processed each day. Each folder represents a
soldier killed in combat.
/// SOBOLYEV ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO. ///
He says - four workers register from six to 18 folders
each, which makes up to 50 people killed a day. He
adds - we want to believe this is not an average
figure, but a peak, which shows days of heaviest
fighting in Chechnya.
Correspondent Sobolyev noted that these numbers
include only Defense Ministry casualties, and only
those whose bodies are recovered. Many more are
missing in action.
The reporter also had no information about Interior
Ministry and paramilitary troops who are believed
doing the bulk of the fighting on the ground.
/// OPT ///
Chechen affairs analyst Alexei Malashenko of the
Carnegie Moscow Center says the military's purposely
jumbled method of counting the dead makes it
impossible to know how many soldiers are dying in
Chechnya. But he says despite the steady stream of
government propaganda, word is beginning to seep
through to the Russian public that the war is not
going as well as earlier believed.
/// MALASHENKO ACT // OPT ACT ///
The victories of September, October, November
and even December have been transformed into a
kind of defeat, because a long war for Russian
troops, for Moscow, means defeat.
///END ACT // END OPT///
The Soldiers' Mothers Committee, an anti-war group,
believes at least three-thousand troops have died
since the fighting began. Their estimate is based on
lists gathered by local committees in each of Russia's
regions and republics.
Official sources say at least 10-thousand rebel
fighters have also been killed. But the figure cannot
be confirmed and Chechen sources say their losses have
been far lower than that. In the past, both sides
have grossly exaggerated enemy casualty figures, while
minimizing their own.
The number of civilians killed is also difficult to
estimate; though there is evidence to indicate the
figure is more than six-thousand. In the last Chechen
war, which left about 80-thousand people dead, the
number of civilians killed is believed to have been
higher than the total of Russian and Chechen fighters
combined. (SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/GE/RAE
24-Jan-2000 11:50 AM EDT (24-Jan-2000 1650 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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