21.02.2000 15:00 ON THE SITUATION IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS
SERGEY V. YASTRZHEMBSKY - assistant to the Acting Russian President for coordination of the work of the federal bodies of executive authority involved in the provision of information on the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus
YASTRZHEMBSKY: No serious changes have been in the operative situation. The Argun Gorge is the epicentre of current events. It has been completely encircled and blockaded and the encirclement is slowly narrowing. According to the information I had at my disposal by 3 p.m., hostilities are developing in the direction of the Western Grouping of troops, near the small settlement of Arsenoi. Contact fighting is now on there? and military commanders believe that Chechen militants will be ousted from that place by the end of the day.
Front aviation was very active, making 88 combat flights.
We keep intercepting radio information that separate bandit groups are trying to get into Daghestan and become dispersed in the mountain villages of the Botlikh, Tsumadinsky, Novolaksky and Kazbekovsky regions to be able to launch active hostilities in spring and summer. Bandits count on the support of local Wahhabi organisations in Daghestan. We have information that bandit envoys try to recruit people in mountain villages of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic who know well mountain routes and passages and have experience in mountaineering . They are to be used as guides to help bandit groups leave Chechnya for neighbouring republics.
An analysis of the radio electronic situation - and reports based on radio interceptions are prepared daily - shows that the bomb and missile-artillery attacks at the positions of illegitimate armed groups are effective. I have an analysis of radio interceptions for February 17. It is a very interesting material. I think that we will get it published in the press. I'll read out some excerpts from it: "Some of Aman's men have been wounded, the mood is so-so, the wounded need to be taken to hospital.... We can use all the guns. I have five wounded and three seriously wounded men there. It is necessary to transfer them. We need 1,500 dollars for their treatment and 500 dollars for trafficking.... We have no communication with our people.... There are many dead bodies.... We have not had any communication with Nazir and Stechkin any more...."
Here is another interception:
"- I saw with my own eyes Russians to pour our dug-outs with hand grenades. No one could leave. Our positions were nearby, we had to fight to retreat.
- Were there the wounded?
- Yes, including a female sniper."
I'll quote one more: "Paratroopers blew up two UAZ cars full of ammunition on the road. We have also seriously suffered.... We have sent a request for ammunition, food, sniper rifles and machine-guns and are waiting to receive it all...."
There is a very interesting thing: bandits tell each other how to bypass checkpoints.
According to other interceptions, cases of desertion have become rather frequent. This is borne out by the following interception near the township of Makhety:
"- Their ambush is all around. Climb down at night; let us decide how to continue.
- What's new?
- Nothing. They kept bombing the whole day.
- Be careful. If you decide to retreat, do it the way it must be done and do not try to contact anyone.
- We do not need your advice how to retreat....
- What is the situation at your place?
- Russians have ambushed us on all the sides; we have to break through.
- This is useless. We all will die. I think it is better to surrender. Anyway, Russians will eventually let all go.
- I heard that Basayev's men are coming. Be very careful. We do not know what they want.
- Take care; I have a spare clip for them. I heard some guys are going to surrender. Many are thinking of this. It seems to be the only way to stay alive."
A photograph of a Russian chopper, which had allegedly been shot down over the Chechen mountains, appeared on Ugugov's web site this morning. It is also claimed that it was shot down with the crew and paratroopers on board. We noticed that in that region helicopters can hardly land on one wheel to be able to take off then. We have received confirmation that it was a false report. The head of the Izvestia photo service has sent a letter which reads: "We want to officially inform you that the photograph of the burning Mi-26 helicopter, which Chechens have stolen from the Izvestia photo agency's web site and which is passed for a photograph of a chopper they allegedly shot down, was placed on our web site on September 26 with the caption which read: 'Catastrophe of a Russian military helicopter at a military aerodrome in Daghestan.' I would advise foreign journalists, in particular, to be more careful when using information from Udugov's site.
Now some information from the Interior Ministry. Nineteen people have been arrested in the past twenty-four hours on suspicion of participation in illegal bandit groups. As many as 113 people are now on remand at Chernokozovo.
On February 20, members of the state commission for the restoration of normal life in the Chechen republic arrived in Mozdok. Today they have left for liberated Chechen regions to get first hand information about the republic's economic problems. On February 20, humanitarian aid was delivered to a Chechen orphanage on behalf of the plenipotentiary representative of the federal government in Chechnya. A charity mission of the Russian Zemstvo movement has brought 16 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Chechnya.
Information from the Emergency Situations Ministry about the number of people registered in Grozny at present. Upwards of ten thousand - 9,883 people, to be precise - have been registered in the Staropromyslovsky, Oktyabrsky, Zavodskoy and Leninsky districts of the city.
Now back to some previous questions. I will start with information about people who have been kidnapped and kept by force in the North Caucasus. Since 1992 there have been 1,790 of such people, 892 of them have been freed and 898, including 42 women, 18 Interior and Defence Ministries servicemen, 58 law enforcers, 14 minors and 11 foreigners, are still missing.
I was asked about Khasan Musalatov. Musalatov was born in Chechnya on February 14, 1944. He has a higher education (a graduate of the health care department of the 1st Moscow doctors' training institute). He worked at the Sechenov Medical Academy, was its pro-rector for health care work and headed the traumatology, orthopaedics and catastrophe surgery chair. Musalatov has a doctor's degree, he is a professor and member of the Russian Medical Academy and Krakow Medical Academy, member emeritus of Sorbonne University; editor-in-chief of the journal Meditsinskaya Pomoshch. In 1995-1996 he was deputy chairman of the Chechen government. He has been acting Chief of the provisional administration of the Chechen Republic since last January.
Vladimir Kravchenko, deputy chief of the investigations department of the Main Directorate in the Office of the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation, has been appointed acting prosecutor of the Chechen Republic. Kravchenko was born in Gomel in 1950. A graduate of the Saratov Law Institute, he has gone through all the stages of a prosecutor's career.
According to the prosecutors, one of the Khachilayev brothers - Nadirshah - is on remand in a prison on charges of organisation of mass disorders, illegitimate deprivation of freedom with regard to Daghestan Interior Ministry officers, the theft of their arms, as well as illegitimate possession of weapons. Nadirshah has been arrested. Similar charges have been raised against Magomed Khachilayev but at the request of his counsellors in keeping with Article 223 of the criminal procedural code he has been freed from prison on guarantee of the defendant's appearance with criminal responsibility for non-appearance. Their cases are to be sent to the Supreme Court of Daghestan.
Some foreign colleagues alleged that Red Cross representatives have not been allowed to visit the detention ward in Chernokozovo. I have received an official memo from the Justice Ministry, which is in charge of the Chernokozovo detention centre. According to this memo, neither the public relations department nor the Main Penitentiary Directorate of the Russian Justice Ministry has received any request from the Red Cross.
EGYPTIAN TELEVISION: What is today's parade in Grozny supposed to mean? Why is it held on the 21st and not on the 23rd of February? Can you comment on today's report by ITAR-TASS about guerilla warfare?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: I have not seen the ITAR-TASS report. However, we think guerilla warfare is in principle impossible at present. History teaches us that a guerilla war is only possible if it is supported by people. Chechen militants do not have such a support today. This situation should be further developed so as the sentiments of people gradually change from neutral to support for the measures designed to restore peaceful life in the republic. That is why a guerilla war is only a cherished dream of the last Chechen gunmen encircled in the Argun Gorge.
The ceremony held in the territory of the Severny Airport was a review of the best forces, which have proved to be very effective in the battle for the liberation of Grozny. It was planned well in advance. Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev read out the decree awarding high military ranks and government decorations. Generals Kazantsev, Troshev and Shamanov are among those who have been promoted in rank. Why was it today? It is an absolutely correctly chosen date. Official celebrations are by tradition held in Moscow on February 23. It was also taken into consideration that February 23 has a certain connotation in the historical memory of the Chechens and the Ingush. We must be very careful about this and avoid inflicting new wounds on the historical memory of people who stably link this date to the bitter recollections of the Stalin-era deportation.
QUESTION: How would you comment on the report in today's daily Segodnya that Aslan Maskhadov is staying in Saudi Arabia? And the second question: What is the fate of the persons arrested by federal forces?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: A certain number of people are arrested every day; I give you regular reports about this. The overwhelming majority of them are then freed. If there are suspicions of someone's participation in bandit groups, investigation begins. When it is over, criminal proceedings are either launched or not launched. The number of people against whom such proceedings begin is much smaller than the number of the arrested.
Practically every day we come across reports about the fate of Raduyev, Maskhadov and Basayev. We take such reports with scepticism as they need to be verified. We think that such information outbreaks are used to distract the attention of the prosecution and interior troops from searches and arrest of the gang leaders. We have no confirmation that Segodnya's report is trustworthy.
GERMAN TELEVISION: You said that you fear that some Chechen rebels can infiltrate Daghestan. What measures are being taken by the Russian army and Interior Ministry in this connection?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: It goes without saying that there is no more ground to expect any breakthroughs by sufficiently large groups of bandits. This is simply impossible at present. The issue at hand is that they can infiltrate some or other territories in various parts. Rather effective measures are being taken to prevent this. The information about the planned attacks of bandit groups received from radio interceptions is checked, the whereabouts of these groups are found out and then aircraft or fire attacks are used to eliminate them.
GERMAN PRESS AGENCY: My first question is: Your Foreign Ministry sharply criticised Mrs. Robinson, the UN Human Rights Supreme Commissioner. Will she still be able to visit Chechnya despite such criticism?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: She can visit Chechnya if she draws the necessary conclusions from the Foreign Ministry's sharp but just criticisms.
NEWSPAPER ROSSIYA: At one of your press conferences you said that negotiations with Chechen leaders are possible but you did not say with whom precisely. Are such negotiations expedient at present? And my second question: The overwhelming majority, if not all forced Chechen migrants are staying in Ingushetia. Why has only Ingushetia given shelter to migrants and why haven't Kabardino-Balkaria and other territories neighbouring on Chechnya come up with such an initiative?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: It is true that Ingushetia is shouldering the bulk of problems connected with forced migrants. However, forced migrants are also staying in Northern Ossetia-Alaniya - there are 6,783 of them there, and in the Stavropol Territory and Daghestan.
I suppose you do not come to my briefings very often because I do not remember my words about the expediency of negotiations with the Chechen leadership. It is a very broad wording, which can be interpreted any way. I said that there are no people among the leaders of so-called Ichkeria with whom any negotiations could be conducted. The decision of the Prosecutor General's office to launch legal proceedings against Maskhadov shows that the question on this concrete personality is closed. As for other leaders, I have just presented one of them to you. As the time goes, I think there will be others who will be the embodiment of a new Chechnya.
ABC, US: How many rebels are active in the territory of Chechnya at present? They are being eliminated, on the one hand, surrender on the other, and turn into peaceful civilians on still other.
YASTRZHEMBSKY: The issue at hand is, first and foremost, the group encircled in the Argun Gorge. It is presumed that about a thousand well-armed militants are fighting under Khattab's command. There are from 3,000 to 4,500 of them in the Argun Gorge and other mountain regions. It is hard to estimate the number of those who manage to escape from fire pockets and return to their native parts. There are no statistics about them. From 200 to 300 men are presumably staying in Grozny, though I personally think that there should be fewer of them in fact.
OPEN RADIO: How effective is radio interception for the elaboration of plans of hostilities by the Russian military? What is the size of information the Russian side obtained owing to radio interception?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: This question should probably be better addressed to a professional serviceman. As far as I can judge, interception is one of the information components used by our command to search, reveal and eliminate bandit groups. Radio interception is conducted round the clock. It is hard for me to say how it can be compared to the size of information obtained by military intelligence and reconnaissance with the help of aviation.
QUESTION: The Military News Agency has reported today that Salman Raduyev's body was found. Is it a new piece of misinformation or do you have any concrete information?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Unfortunately, we have not received any confirmation. But there is information that Raduyev had some serious problems. They could have been some inter-group bandit disputes between members of his clan and other clans. But we have not received 100-percent confirmation of this information.
QUESTION: You have said that about half of the people who have been kidnapped over all these years in Chechnya are still in the hands of rebels. Is there any information in what regions they can be concentrated?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Part of them is undoubtedly in the mountains. I suppose it is a large part. We do not exclude at the same time that hostages can be kept in the flat part of Chechnya, because many houses have specially equipped basements for keeping hostages. Unfortunately, the business of hostage-taking has become very profitable under the Maskhadov regime in the past three years. Honestly speaking, many made their living by this business. Keen attention is paid to searches for hostages in the special measures conducted by the Interior Ministry troops and the Justice Ministry. Fortunately, practically every day there are reports that hostages are freed. Even today we have found out that one of the kidnapped Daghestan policemen has been freed. I do not think that the hostage problem will be completely solved even after the completion of the phase of active hostilities in Chechen mountains. We will have to spend a lot of time to find these people.
QUESTION: How many hostages have been liberated lately and since the beginning of the operation in Chechnya?
YASTRZHEMBSKY: Last year 341 people were taken hostage and 484 were freed. I do not have a breakdown according to months. In less than two months of this year two persons have been kidnapped and 51 freed.
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