Word: aslan
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...first sign of trouble appeared when Georgian officials got upset that the group was going straight to Batumi, a stronghold in the western region of the country ruled by political potentate Aslan Abashidze, a powerful rival to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, a U.S. ally. White House officials urged the group to make a stop in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi first and meet with Shevardnadze, which they did. The meeting "was absolutely great," said Tony. "He promised to help us." Then the group spent eight days in Batumi meeting with Abashidze, as well as with hazelnut farmers, the Orthodox bishop...
...Although the advancing Russians had by Wednesday captured the northern third of the rebel republic, they had done so for the most part without much of a fight. "Chechen forces were biding their time," says TIME Moscow bureau chief Paul Quinn-Judge. The Chechens, whose president, Aslan Mashkadov, called Wednesday for a "holy war" to repel the Russian invaders, are likely to meet any Russian attempt to cross the Terek River in the mountainous south of Chechnya with fierce resistance. Meanwhile, Moscow rejected European Union offers to mediate in the crisis, insisting that Chechnya is a domestic matter. A domestic...
Nine days of Russian bombing has forced 80,000 refugees to flee Chechnya, and Putin ordered thousands of troops and armored vehicles into a three-pronged invasion of the territory Friday after declaring that Moscow no longer recognizes the legitimacy of President Aslan Mashkadov's Chechen government. Of course, as Moscow has learned at some expense in the past, fighting a war in Chechnya may demand a high cost in men and materiel, as well as in the already depleted confidence of the West?s financial and investor communities (the European Union Thursday warned Russia against restarting the disastrous...
Moscow has managed to whip up Russian public support for war against Chechnya; now it may be trying to delicately climb down from the precipice. Following six days of continuous bombing, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday authorized a meeting between Russian officials in the region and Chechen president Aslan Mashkadov. Russia insists that Mashkadov curb Islamic guerrilla groups operating in his country, although observers point out that the Chechen president himself has limited control over his own territory. And Russian opposition politicians, mindful of Moscow's 1994-96 debacle in Chechnya, are warning against escalating the conflict...
...rebels the centerpiece of his campaign for next year's presidential election. "The Kremlin is certainly using this crisis to paint the not-very-striking Putin to look like presidential material," says Quinn-Judge. The former KGB officer on Monday firmly rejected a call by Chechnya's President Aslan Maskhadov for political dialogue with Moscow, instead moving armor to the border. But despite their anger at the bombings, Russian voters may balk at another bruising infantry campaign in Chechnya. And, of course, the Chechens may not allow Moscow the luxury of making war from a distance...