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DATE=6/30/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-263934
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Russia's commander in Chechnya says Russian 
forces have won a five-day battle with rebels at the 
base of the Caucasus mountains in southern Chechnya.  
But as V-O-A Moscow correspondent Eve Conant reports, 
this latest upsurge in fighting has undermined the 
Russian military's claim that the war is nearly over.
TEXT:  Russian news agencies quote commander Gennady 
Troshev as saying rebels have been destroyed and that 
a "mopping up" operation is underway, after five days 
of intense fighting near the southern village of 
Serzhen-Yurt.  But the Chechen rebels' Internet site 
says fighting ended several days ago, with high 
Russian casualties. 
Serzhen-Yurt is located at the base of Chechnya's 
southern mountains, where Russia's military says 
rebels have relocated after being forced out of the 
northern lowlands occupied by Russian troops. 
Moscow and Chechen representatives have different 
accounts of the fighting this week.  Both claim their 
own troops killed more than 100 enemy soldiers.  But 
casualty figures are impossible to confirm, and both 
sides traditionally exaggerate enemy losses while 
downplaying their own.
///  OPT  ///  Russia's Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev 
said the situation around Serzhen-Yurt still needs to 
be clarified.
      /// SERGEYEV ACT IN RUSSIAN-IN & FADE UNDER ///
He says Russian troops in Serzhen-Yurt are carrying 
out what he calls "checks on our operations there.  
More details are coming."  ///  END OPT  ///
The heavy battles near Serzhen-Yurt followed the 
Russian military's announcement that the war is nearly 
over, and that large-scale air and artillery attacks 
were stopping.  Moscow later retracted the 
announcement, which appeared to be just one in a 
series of claims by Russian forces that victory was 
close at hand. 
Meanwhile, Chechen forces have continued to stage 
successful counterattacks against Russian troops 
travelling in convoys, guarding checkpoints or 
whenever the soldiers might be vulnerable.
Russia's military estimates that thousands of rebels, 
including Arab mercenaries, are presently based in 
Chechnya's southern mountains.   (Signed)
NEB/EC/JWH/WTW
30-Jun-2000 09:35 AM EDT (30-Jun-2000 1335 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.