Word: chechens
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...Clinton last week emphasized Washington's belief that sanctions are an inappropriate response to the Chechnya situation, and Moscow isn't likely to lose any sleep over the latest warnings. Having reportedly lost an armored column in a botched assault on Grozny Wednesday, Russian forces continued relentlessly shelling the Chechen capital Friday...
Russia has denied reports of the botched tank raid, accusing Western news agencies of fabricating a deliberate propaganda effort. "Now everyone's waiting for the video, because the Chechens usually record these things," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "After Moscow's denials, a video showing the ambush did occur could prove embarrassing to Russia's generals." It would prove even more embarrassing to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has built his political reputation almost exclusively on the Chechnya campaign. "The plan may have been for Putin to fly down and raise the Russian flag over Grozny...
This could be where it gets bloody, although by now the battle for Grozny may be mostly symbolic. Chechen forces repelled a Russian armored assault on the center of their besieged capital Wednesday, with the AP reporting that guerrilla fighters had killed a number of Russian troops and left a column of tanks and armored personnel carriers burning in the streets. Russia took heavy losses when it stormed Grozny in the 1994-1996 war, and the capital?s outnumbered and outgunned defenders are hoping to make the Russians pay a heavy price for taking the city. Despite the specter...
...European governments are moving hastily to cobble together negotiations to avert a bloodbath, although Moscow is sending mixed signals over whether it's prepared to talk to the Chechens. But with even Malik Saydulayev, head of the new Chechen puppet government created in Moscow, calling for talks with more moderate Chechen commanders, some form of deal may be in the works. Russia has plainly won this phase of the war, forcing the guerrilla army of President Aslan Mashkadov to retreat from every urban center in the country other than the capital...
...capture of Grozny may put a symbolic seal on Russia?s victory, but that victory remains partial. After all, guerrilla wars aren?t won by capturing territory, and the Chechen forces have retreated mostly intact from the Russian advance. They're already making life difficult for Russian forces by night in many of the areas under Moscow's control, and a protracted guerrilla war against fighters based in the mountains of the south will mean mounting Russian casualties in exchange for few tangible gains. That gives Russia an incentive to try and divide the Chechen resistance with concessions...