Word: chechen
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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BORIS YELTSIN OBLITERATED A VILLAGE last week and called it a victory. A leading Moscow newspaper described the Russian army's running battle with Chechen rebels as "10 days of pain, impotence and shame." But Yeltsin, with a flourish of newspeak reminiscent of Soviet days, simply declared himself a winner. His troops, he claimed at a news conference in the Kremlin, killed 153 Chechens, captured 28, and freed 82 hostages after besieging Pervomaiskoye, a hamlet in far-off Dagestan. "We have taught Dudayev a sound lesson," Yeltsin said, referring to Chechen separatist leader Jokhar Dudayev. Now, Yeltsin threatened, Russia will...
...help the President position himself for a run at re-election in June. But if he actually launches a major new antiguerrilla offensive, it is very likely to backfire. No matter how the Kremlin portrays it, last week's action was a bloody, humiliating mess. A ragtag group of Chechen gunmen had slipped into Dagestan, seized 3,400 hostages in the town of Kizlyar, and later held off a full-scale assault by thousands of Russian soldiers, including elite special-service units. The Russians prevailed only after a furious bombardment leveled the village where the band of about 300 rebels...
Russians for the most part received news of these events through the filters of official spokesmen and public television. They wanted to believe the operation went well, they had no special affinity for the Dagestani hostages, and they have no sympathy for Chechen rebels. They may even have agreed with Yeltsin when he crowed that "mad dogs must be shot." But now Yeltsin and his hard-line Kremlin advisers are ready to cast aside the tentative peace agreement they worked out with breakaway Chechnya last summer...
...CHECHEN SECESSION...
...MOSCOW: Chechen Rebels today released 45 Dagestani hostages taken during the January 9th attack on the village of Kizlyar. The Chechens may still hold as many as 24 Russian policemen captured during the raid in addition to 30 Russian power plant workers who were seized in Grozny last week. Unintimidated by Russian threats to "unconditionally eliminate" Chechen leader Jokar Dudayev, the rebels are holding the remainder of the hostages, demanding that the Russian government release the bodies of fighters killed during the assault. Chechen morale has risen dramatically since the strike into Dagestan, despite Yeltsin's tough talk...