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DATE=6/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L) (CQ)
NUMBER=2-263297
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Russian President Vladimir Putin has imposed 
direct Kremlin rule in the breakaway Chechnya region.  
V-O-A's Peter Heinlein in Moscow reports the move came 
after Chechen rebels stepped up their attacks against 
Russian troops, including a suicide bombing that 
killed several soldiers.
TEXT:  President Putin signed a decree Thursday 
imposing direct presidential rule over Chechnya.  The 
announcement was made by Security Council Secretary 
Sergei Ivanov.
            /// IVANOV ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER 
///
Mr. Ivanov says direct rule normally is ordered for 
two to three years.  But he says the term could be 
extended if events warrant.
President Putin was earlier reported in urgent 
consultations with security advisers after a surge of 
deadly attacks against federal forces in Chechnya.
Two suicide bombers detonated a car bomb Wednesday in 
front of a police headquarters near the regional 
capital, Grozny.  A rebel spokesman said 27 troops 
died in the blast, but a government official reported 
the death toll at two officers and the two bombers.
A senior Russian commander in Grozny was badly wounded 
in a separate attack on his vehicle.  His driver was 
killed.
And the army reported one soldier killed and four 
wounded when their armored vehicle struck a remote-
controlled land mine.
Lawmakers from across Russia's political spectrum 
immediately hailed the imposition of direct rule.  The 
leader of the Union of Right Forces in parliament, 
Boris Nemtsov, says the move is long overdue.
            /// NEMTSOV ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER 
///
Mr. Nemtsov says his party thinks the decision is a 
bit late.  And he says the person named by the Kremlin 
to administer the region should be called a "general 
governor" rather than "governor general," to indicate 
that he will be in charge of military and police as 
well as administrative functions.
Russian forces were driven out of Chechnya in a 21-
month war that ended in 1996.  They returned last 
September after a series of apartment building 
bombings in Moscow and other cities killed nearly 300 
people.
Authorities blame Chechen rebels for the bomb attacks, 
but have not been able to turn up proof.  The rebels 
deny responsibility, and accuse Russian special forces 
of staging the blasts to whip up anti-Chechen 
sentiment.   (Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/JP/KL
08-Jun-2000 13:05 PM EDT (08-Jun-2000 1705 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.