Word: dagestan
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Russians may pay heavily for the nation?s latest little war in the Caucasus -- with their political freedom. Although Moscow has admitted losing only 10 troops in a week of fighting and has vowed to drive Islamic insurgents out of Dagestan within two weeks, Russian reinforcements pouring into the region amid intensified fighting Friday suggest a longer and more brutal conflict. Back in Moscow, there?s widespread speculation that President Boris Yeltsin will use the Dagestan fighting as a pretext to declare a state of emergency -? which would allow him to cling to power by canceling December?s parliamentary elections...
...long enough to lop off the head of his government, before returning to the hospital or sanatorium. The latest victim: Sergei Stepashin, a bumbling but loyal bureaucrat who served a full three months as prime minister. Of course, with a secessionist rebellion underway in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, there may be some good reasons for getting rid of Stepashin. After all, he authored Moscow?s clumsily brutal, yet ineffective, response to the uprising in neighboring Chechnya five years ago. But Yeltsin has never had any problem signing off on a little butchery in the Caucasus, and Stepashin...
...rebel force is trying to join its Chechen neighbors in achieving a de facto independence from Russia and becoming part of Chechnya. Russian forces have begun attacking the rebels ? pooh-poohed by the official Russain news outlet as "bandits" -- with artillery and missile strikes. And Sergei Stepashin is in Dagestan, trying to get it right this time...
...Dagestani capital Makhachkala under Yeltsin's orders and meeting with local officials, had very little to say on strategic matters. But he?d better have the military behind him now. The fighting, which intensified early Saturday when the militants (who may in fact be Chechens) crossed into Dagestan and began taking up positions around local villages, is the worst in the region since the Chechen war, which almost got Yeltsin impeached by the Duma last spring. But Stepashin?s main qualification for the Prime Minister?s job was his ability to protect his boss, and of course he was appropriately...
MOSCOW: Russia announced it would begin withdrawing troops from Chechnya, but cautioned that they would return "if the situation deteriorates." Troops Monday began redeploying across the boarder in neighboring Dagestan, the first stage of a three-part withdrawal that is expected to last until at least October. TIME's Andrew Keith says that the withdrawal is largely a cosmetic move, since the soldiers can quickly be sent back into Chechnya if peace negotiations break down. "There is still fighting all over Chechnya despite the cease fire. Among Chechens, there isn't a whole lot of faith in the cease-fire...