DATE=3/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-259916
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian warplanes and artillery are bombarding
hundreds of rebels who captured a strategic Russian-
controlled settlement 25 kilometers south of the
Chechen capital, Grozny. V-O-A Moscow Correspondent
Eve Conant reports rebels are inflicting high
casualties on Russian troops as they try to break out
of federal encirclements.
TEXT: Russia's Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev says
federal troops have encircled as many as one-thousand
Chechen rebels near the village of Komsomolskoye in
southern Chechnya. Russian news agencies quote the
defense minister as saying there has been fierce
fighting for several days to halt the rebels but that
there was no guerrilla war under way.
Russia has said its troops were close to defeating the
Chechen fighters, but the rebels continue to undermine
Russia's claims with deadly counterattacks and by
seizing Russian-occupied villages such as
Komsomolskoye. Also, Russia's military news agency,
A-V-N, says dozens more Russian troops have been
killed in recent battles than were officially
reported.
The rebel's recent successes and the military reports
have forced Russian officials, such as the Kremlin's
spokesman on Chechnya, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, to admit
federal troops were suffering serious losses.
/// YASTRZHEMBSKY ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
He says Russian troops have suffered losses and -- in
his words -- "they were not small." He says Russia
has lost 171 paratroopers since the fighting began.
He also said there is heavy fighting in the towns and
villages of Selmentauzen, Ulus-Kert, and Vedeno. Mr.
Yastrzhembsky also said dozens of rebels had
surrendered their weapons in Samashki and Sernovodsk.
Russian generals said rebels in the south had launched
attacks on troops as part of an effort to break out of
federal lines near Chechnya's southern mountains.
The rebel's Internet website says Chechen fighters are
inflicting heavy losses on Russian troops as fighting
rages in the Argun and Vedeno gorges. The report
could not be independently confirmed, nor can Russia's
statistics for federal or rebel losses be confirmed.
Russian warplanes and helicopter gunships continue to
target rebel positions in the mountains, often flying
as many as 100 sorties a day. (Signed)
NEB/EC/JWH/KL
07-Mar-2000 11:27 AM EDT (07-Mar-2000 1627 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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