Word: russian
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...scientific eyes of the world--and a few well-placed network cameras--watched, Russian scientists used a helicopter to extract a twenty-ton block of ice from the permafrost of Siberia. The block, believed to contain the fully intact remains of a 23,000 year-old woolly mammoth, was transported to Moscow where it now sits in a permanently frozen cave awaiting further scientific examination...
...that's not the end of the story. Banking on the probability that the giant mammoth popsicle would pique the interest of the international community--or at least divert some attention away from the vodka-loving President and the ongoing civil war in Chechnya--the Russian scientists in charge of the excavation decided to stage a bit of a show...
...alas, just when youngsters of the world had gotten their hopes up that future field trips to the zoo might be a little more fun, Russian zoologist Alexei Tikhonov announced that he believed the block of ice really contained nothing more than a couple of hairballs and a few bones. The strangest twist of all, though, was Tikhonov's suggestion of what should be done with the maybe-mammoth-maybe-algae-filled block...
...second battle for Grozny has begun. Russian tanks and infantry fought their way into the suburbs of the Chechen capital Tuesday in the face of fierce resistance by its guerrilla defenders. In 1994, Russia suffered heavy casualties - and killed thousands of Chechens, both fighters and civilians - in a vain attempt to take control of the capital. The latest battle may be as grim. "Some Russian leaders seem to believe that anyone who hasn?t fled Chechnya by now is fair game," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "A former prime minister said Sunday that eliminating bandits and terrorists in Chechnya...
...Russian field commander Tuesday offered a $1 million bounty on the head of the Islamic separatist guerrilla commander Shamil Basayev, but that may be simply posturing. "Correspondents manage to interview Basayev without much trouble, and he?s not exactly hiding out," says Meier. "It would require a stretch of the imagination to believe that the Russian special forces don?t know where he is." Even more bizarre, perhaps, is the mounting speculation that President Boris Yeltsin is unhappy with the spectacular rise in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin?s popularity prompted by the Chechnya operation. "Even though the Kremlin?s game...