Word: chechnya
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Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared victory in Chechnya today, as a Russian flag was raised over the bombed out presidential palace in Grozny. The palace, long the seat of Chechen resistance, was abandoned by the rebels last night. Still says TIME Moscow correspondent Yuri Zarakhovich, "there's a big difference between declaring victory and actually winning." Indeed Chechen rebels vowed to continue fighting despite the loss of the palace. "They will simply go into the mountains outside Grozny," says Zarakhovich. "This is something that could take years to resolve...
After two days of talks in Geneva, Russian officials managed to ward off any punitive action by the Clinton administration regarding theChechnya crisis. Russian Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev agreed to hold elections in Chechnya after the crisis was dealt with, and even said he would consider allowing international observers to be present. For his part, Christopher warned the Russians that Congress might nix any new aid package to punish the Russians for their brutality in Chechnya. However, notesTIME correspondent Ann Simmons, by agreeing that the Chechnya crisis was an internal affair, the Clinton administration has in effect separated Russia...
Several senior Russian commanders went public with warnings against an invasion of Chechnya. Deputy Defense Minister Boris Gromov, the last commander of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, said on television: "It will be a bloodbath, another Afghanistan." The Russian press reported that 11 generals, including the commander of the ground forces, wrote to parliament questioning whether the troops could "accomplish their tasks under present conditions...
...part the debacle can be blamed on Yeltsin's attempt to use the military to solve a political problem. Many experts see Chechnya's independence bid as an internal security problem and suspect that the use of military force was pushed by the Federal Counterintelligence Service, successor to the KGB. Other senior officers are contemptuous of Grachev, whom they consider a jumped-up parachutist elevated to Defense Minister because he is loyal to Yeltsin, not because he is good...
...Russian high command is rethinking the operation now. Reinforcements, paratroops and special forces are massing in Chechnya for another offensive. The rebels, in spite of their proven skill at guerrilla warfare, will probably not be able to hold Grozny long against these forces. But, as many in Russia are asking, at what cost comes victory...