Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MNI who wrote (14723)	9/30/1999 7:52:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17770

Russian Troops Break Into Chechnya As Grozny Threatens Deadly Reprisals ST. PETERSBURG, Sep 30, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Moscow and Grozny stood on the precipice of a new war Thursday when Russia revealed its troops had broken into Chechnya while the rebel republic vowed to strike back if faced with an all out invasion. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dispelled any speculation about Moscow's motives for massing troops around Chechnya by announcing that Russian soldiers were crossing in and out of the republic on a regular basis. "A military operation is already under way. I can tell you that our troops have entered (Chechnya) many times over the past two weeks. They occupied important mountain points and freed them," Putin said in Russia's second city during a break in a regional security meeting. "We have no border with Chechnya, and the armed forces need no permission from the Federation Council (upper house of parliament) to invade, as is the case with other military operations," Putin added. "I repeat, Chechnya is a Russian territory. Our troops can be stationed anywhere." As Russian jets streaked across the Chechen sky and artillery pounded its western regions the leaders of the tiny separatist state warned Moscow that its own security was at risk should tanks roll into their republic. Chechen "defense minister" Magomed Khambiyev vowed that "military operations will be launched in Russia" should ground warfare resume for the first time since the two sides' brutal 1994-96 war. "We have prepared special divisions of the Chechen army that will greet Russia on its home front," Khambiyev told AFP. "We will be forced do so if they attack, although we are still hopeful that the situation may yet be resolved through political dialogue." But all signs on the ground pointed to an invasion. An AFP reported near Chechnya's western border with the Russian republic of Ingushetia saw 44 armored vehicles and three tanks rolling on a road leading to Achkhoi-Martan in Chechnya. "No one knows about our exact plans, but we will have to enter Chechnya," one officer from the paratrooper division said. "Paratroopers have never been asked to defend borders before. We have a different task." Russia on September 5 launched an air assault against Chechnya aimed at wiping out suspected terrorists that Moscow holds responsible for organizing incursion into neighboring Dagestan and a wave of Russian apartment bombings. Those punishing campaigns and fears of an imminent ground war prompted 75,000 refugees to flee into neighboring Ingushetia. The Russian republic's President Ruslan Aushev has expressed fears the figure may soon eclipse 250,000 and again warned the region could soon be swallowed by a "humanitarian catastrophe." Chechnya's factious rebel forces meanwhile have banded together in the face of a Russian attack. Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov on Wednesday enlisted the feared warlord Shamil Basayev into his army and assigned him to the pivotal eastern front bordering Dagestan. Basayev and his fellow field commanders humiliated the much larger Russian army in the 1994-96 guerrilla war that has left Moscow politicians smarting to this day. But Putin, a tough-speaking former internal security chief who earlier ordered 30,000 troops to surround Chechnya in a "cordon sanitaire," on Thursday said Russia was being moved by grave security concerns. "A very important question stands before us -- what do we want, where do we want to set up this security belt. Should we set it up on our own territory? "Should we wait until they go into our villages again? Are we going to bomb our owns towns again," he said in reference to Russia's Dagestani campaign that killed more than 280 federal troops last month. "Is that right? I do not think so," Putin concluded. Meanwhile President Boris Yeltsin, who once called the Chechen war his gravest political mistake, appeared at his Kremlin office Thursday. He has so far refrained from commenting on Russia's ground operations in Chechnya. ((c) 1999 Agence France Presse) PS Is there a need for new thread? I do not think so

To: MNI who wrote (14723)	10/1/1999 1:28:00 PM
From: Yaacov	Respond to of 17770

along which one might try to military divide into a North and South par" Are you talking about Terek! They used have Cossack "stanitz" all along the Terek in 19th century to keep the Chechens in! The invasion is taking shape! There are 20,000 Chechens trained to take on 300,000 Russian recruits! As during the last war, the Chechens move in three man units! Hard to catch! Russian armour useless. They let the armour pass, and then they hit back! Yes, great idea for a Chechnian thread! Go for it and I will be glad to post! Thanks, Yaacov