DATE=4/1/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA/CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-260841
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian troops have recovered the bodies of 32
soldiers killed in a rebel ambush in Chechnya. V-O-
A's Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports the discovery
comes as the top United Nations human rights official
visits the region to investigate allegations of war
crimes.
TEXT: U-N Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson
goes to Chechnya Sunday to see the destroyed regional
capital, Grozny. She will also inspect a Russian
detention camp where authorities are accused of
routinely torturing inmates.
On Saturday [today], Ms. Robinson stopped at refugee
camps in Ingushetia, a neighboring region that has
given shelter to an estimated quarter-of-a-million
Chechens fleeing Russia's military offensive.
/// Opt /// But residents complained the U-N official
was kept under tight guard, and received only a small
taste of the plight of the refugees.
Hundreds of residents at one camp tried in vain to
express their grievances, but were kept away by a
tight security cordon. Instead, they chanted slogans
and held aloft banners demanding an end to what they
described as "the genocide of the Chechen people."
But the refugees admitted conditions at the camps have
improved in recent days. Several were quoted as
saying hot meal service, which was abruptly
discontinued in February, was restarted two days
before Ms. Robinson's arrival. /// End Opt ///
Several western countries have accused Russia of using
indiscriminate force in Chechnya. Human rights groups
have documented instances of what are described as
mass killings of civilians.
On her arrival in Moscow, Ms. Robinson said it is
important to investigate alleged violations on both
sides.
As she visited the region, Russia announced the
discovery of the bodies of more than 30 soldiers
killed last Wednesday in a Chechen rebel ambush.
/// Opt /// Interior Ministry General Viktor
Medveditskov told Russia's independent television
channel the recovery operation was being hampered by
continued fighting and by land mines planted around
the bodies.
/// Medveditskov Act in Russian, then fade
to ///
He says "We are still investigating, using the help of
soldiers trained in defusing mines". /// End Opt ///
The ambush is the latest in a series of attacks
demonstrating the vulnerability of Russian troops to
the rebels' guerrilla-style hit and run tactics. The
attack and similar ambush a month ago that killed 84
elite paratroopers, serve as a warning to Russian
commanders that the rebels hope to repeat their
military success of the last Chechen war from 1994 to
1996.
In another development, Russian authorities say they
may have discovered the body of a top general
kidnapped in Chechnya. Russia's chief spokesman says
forensic experts are examining a corpse thought to be
that of General Gennady Shpigun. The general was
seized by suspected Chechen rebels in a daring
operation as his plane was preparing to take off from
Grozny's airport more than a year ago. (Signed)
BEB/PFH/DW/JP
01-Apr-2000 11:25 AM EDT (01-Apr-2000 1625 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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