Word: basayev
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Russian field commander Tuesday offered a $1 million bounty on the head of the Islamic separatist guerrilla commander Shamil Basayev, but that may be simply posturing. "Correspondents manage to interview Basayev without much trouble, and he?s not exactly hiding out," says Meier. "It would require a stretch of the imagination to believe that the Russian special forces don?t know where he is." Even more bizarre, perhaps, is the mounting speculation that President Boris Yeltsin is unhappy with the spectacular rise in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin?s popularity prompted by the Chechnya operation. "Even though the Kremlin?s game...
...President Boris Yeltsin's revolving cast of legislative leaders, gave a sinister little smile and explained that the term incursion didn't apply. "We don't have a border with Chechnya," he said. "Chechnya is part of the Russian Federation." In the Chechen capital of Grozny, guerrilla leader Shamil Basayev displayed his own brand of black humor, calling for a massive hole to be dug in the Russian cemetery on the edge of the shattered city in preparation for a new pile of Russian corpses...
...Chechen rebels in western Dagestan described their own commanders as corrupt, ill-organized and incompetent. Sources close to the Spetsnaz, the best-trained and most combat-experienced soldiers, say they lost officers to misdirected Russian "precision bombings" in Dagestan. They also speak of corrupt commanders who allowed Chechen leader Basayev to buy his way out of Dagestan after a failed offensive, and of helicopter-gunship crews who were bribed by the Chechens to hit empty slices of mountainside instead of guerrilla positions...
...vote with about 90 percent counted; official results are expected today. Maskhadov masterminded the daring offensive last August to retake Grozny and bring the Russians to the peace table. He negotiated the deal that made Monday's elections possible. But the Chechens' overwhelming choice of Maskhadov over rival Shamil Basayev, a young rebel leader, shows political savvy in equal parts to gratitude. Moscow considers Basayev a terrorist for his 1995 hostage-taking raid on a southern Russian town, while Maskhadov is seen by Russia as the least of separatist evils. "Maskhadov will not press the problem of recognizing independence...
Some Russians expect Yandarbiyev to be forced out soon by another strongman, possibly the battlefield commander Shamil Basayev, who was named last week to handle any future parleys with Moscow. But if the Chechens stand firm on Dudayev's basic demand--full independence--there will be little to discuss with the Kremlin. In spite of Yeltsin's peace maneuvers, it seems likely he will carry the burden of Chechnya into the election...