Word: chechen
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Take, to begin with, the debacle the Russian army suffered when it tried last week to storm the Chechen capital of Grozny, only to be driven back from the city center by greatly outnumbered and outgunned Chechen fighters. Yes, everyone knew the Russian military was no longer the tightly disciplined, overpowering army that a few years ago haunted the dreams of potential victims from Beijing to Bonn. It still came as a shock that the machine had deteriorated so badly -- and a greater shock that so much of it was riven by dissension and insubordination from teenage draftees who deserted...
Most disturbing of all was the sense that in this war there was no clearly defined right and wrong. Most outsiders felt instinctive sympathy for the Chechens as the victims of assault, of indiscriminate bombing of civilians -- but sympathy too for the hapless Russian recruits dying because of the ineptitude of their leaders and generals. But could anyone really cheer for Chechen secession? A few voices call for letting regions historically forced into the Russian Federation go free, like the other pieces of the Soviet Empire. But the U.S. and West European governments acknowledged without question Russia's right...
Russian troops, pressing further into Grozny with their latest wave of artillery and rocket attacks, today came within yards of seizing the symbolic presidential palace in the Chechen capital. Chechen rebels have pressed the defense of the city even though their president on Wednesday publicly admitted they were outmatched militarily. Moscow news reports said Russian forces now occupy the Chechen government headquarters, a "key target" across the street from the palace. TIME correspondent Ann Simmons, reporting from Moscow, says many Russian officials believe the inevitable fall of Grozny will merely spark a more fragmented guerrilla war as rebels...
Despite a plea for peace -- but no offer of surrender -- from Chechnya's president Wednesday, Russian forces launched their harshest attack yet on the Chechen capital, Grozny, showering the city with artillery and rockets. Scattered groups of haggard Chechen fighters resisted the onslaught, but many retreated house by house as Russian soldiers claimed block after block of territory. Members of President Dzhokhar Dudayev's government reportedly joined the stream of refugees, though successive Russian air raids failed to dislodge rebels from the surrounding Caucasian mountains. Even a swift victory may be too little, too late to rally international opinion...
...Chechen President Dzhokar Dudayevemerged from nearly two weeks of hiding to call for peace talks with Russia, admitting that his outnumbered forces couldn't win. "There is no other resolution but a peaceful resolution," said Dudayev, looking pale and tired as he spoke to reporters near the capital, Grozny, where shelling resumed after the announcement. "Of course, we cannot physically confront such an empire as Russia." Dudayev's announcement represented a complete about-face after previous demands that Moscow withdraw its troops before a truce. Nevertheless, he demanded negotiations for Chechen autonomy and accused Russian hard-liners of fomenting civil...