Word: kremlins
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...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 hit more rebel strongholds "to put an end to terrorism...
...bold, tough-guy pose, and it could even 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...
...field were poorly equipped, badly trained and led. Even elite special-operations troops bungled their task. Plucked from army, police, security and Interior Ministry forces around Russia, they found their radio systems did not allow them to communicate. Their overall commander, General Mikhail Barsukov, is a former Kremlin security chief best known for his loyalty to Yeltsin, not for his combat experience. The troops mounted uncoordinated assaults on the village and ended up shooting at one another. Forced to pull back, they simply opened up at long range with missiles, mortars and attack helicopters. When the earthshaking barrage began...
...raid came as Yeltsin was attempting to strengthen his political position following a two-month recovery in a clinic and a convalescent center. The 64-year-old leader had started to make a round of high-profile appearances: strolling in the Kremlin, laying ceremonial bricks for a cathedral and praying at an Orthodox Christmas Mass. He even flew to Paris in the midst of the hostage crisis to attend the funeral of Francois Mitterrand and demonstrate his fitness for office. "I am in perfect health," he told reporters. "I came here so everyone could see I was in perfect form...
Even if that quiets the immediate discontent, however, Chechnya is Yeltsin's weak point, and his challengers sense it. Lebed criticized the Kremlin's handling of the hostage crisis and warned that "there was no guarantee it won't happen again." In his declaration speech Zhirinovsky demanded, "End the war in the Caucasus! If you don't burn the rebels' bases with napalm, then you, Boris Nikolayevich, will lose the election on June 16, and I will do it on July 1!" Though crude, the threat contained a simple truth: the war in Chechnya mars any Yeltsin-image makeover, however...