Word: chechenization
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...though, Moscow is winning the home-propaganda battle. Opinion surveys show that around 60% of Russians support the war as a necessity to quell Chechen militants. The generals are sure their Prime Minister will back them to the end. But while "there is political and military consensus on how to do this right," says Sherman Garnett of Michigan State University, an expert on the Russian military, "whether it works or not is another matter...
...clear whether Wednesday's fiasco was the start of a major assault, a reconnaissance probe of Chechen defenses or just a stupid mistake. Up to now, Russian forces have marched across the republic with, they claim, little resistance. Their battle plan called for slow, steady advances until the rebels engaged them. Then they would let their vastly superior artillery and air forces bomb the Chechen fighters and strafe their village hideouts, until they fell back and Russian troops could move safely forward again. Since late September, a Russian force that now numbers 100,000--just about every viable fighting...
...well against rebel fighters. They too have altered tactics. This time, as soon as the Russians open up with artillery, the rebels retreat to safe new lines of defense. Moscow claims to have killed 7,000 fighters, leaving 12,000 to 15,000 in the field. Western intelligence puts Chechen strength at 20,000 and suspects that a revenge-seeking relative steps in to replace every rebel killed...
...Chechens will try to kill as many Russians as possible in Grozny, then retire into the hills to wage guerrilla warfare with hit-and-run strikes into occupied towns and cities. The Russians say they are strangling the rebels in a ring of steel, but squeezing Jell-O is a better analogy. As Russian troops advance, Chechen guerrillas slip through the lines to harass them, even in the northern plains that Moscow claims are completely Russian controlled...
This is the fifth military campaign mounted against the rebellious republic in this century. The Chechen problem is never solved; it merely goes into remission. Most revolts have been suppressed by a combination of massive force on one side and a breakdown of leadership on the other. Chechnya's elected President, Aslan Maskhadov, continues to call for a political settlement--and so do Washington and the Europeans. But Putin and his generals seem adamant...