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To: Nikole Wollerstein who wrote (15248)	11/9/1999 7:25:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 17770

Russian generals seize control of Chechnya war By Marcus Warren in Moscow Chechnya appeals to West, Russia slams rebel state [8 Nov '99 - Russia Today] Many civilians killed in Samashki village, Chechnya [4 Nov '99]- Human Rights Watch In the borderlands of Hell [29 Oct '99] - Institute for War and Peace Reporting News from Chechnya Chechnya brief - Andrei Sakharov Foundation RUSSIA'S generals have usurped control of the war in Chechnya from the Kremlin, blackmailing politicians with the threat of resigning en masse if ordered to halt the army's advance. Senior military officers are laying down the law to the political leadership as to how to deal with Chechnya, afraid of a repeat of the "stab in the back" from Moscow which, they believe, robbed them of victory in the 1994-6 war. Asked what he would do if ordered to stop the advance, Gen Vladimir Shamanov, the commander of the western group of forces in the Caucasus, replied: "I would tear off my stars. I would no longer serve in such an army." He said that some of Russia's senior officers even believed that such a move could drive the country "to the brink of civil war". Gen Shamanov, one of several military chiefs with scores to settle from the last war, is the most outspoken of the commanders but his sentiments are shared by many in the army. Gen Viktor Kazantsev, the overall commander of Russian forces in the Caucasus, and Gen Gennady Troshev, who is in charge of the eastern group, have said that they would regard any order to suspend their advance as "treason". Behind them is figure of Gen Anatoly Kvashnin, the chief of the general staff, who is believed to be the most energetic supporter of a purely military solution to Moscow's Chechen problem. Russia's politicians, even President Yeltsin who has kept a low profile during the war even by his standards, are probably too weak to order any shift in the army's tactics, despite the growing international outcry at civilian casualties. The army now occupies half of Chechnya and has almost encircled Grozny, the capital, and the second city, Gudermes, without suffering heavy losses. It has also profited from broad support for the war among Russian civilians, aghast at invasions by Chechen guerrillas into the neighbouring region of Dagestan and a series of bomb attacks on blocks of flats in big cities. The episodes in the war which inflicted most damage on Russia's image abroad, the missile strike on Grozny market and the closure of the border with Ingushetia, appear to be cases of the military acting without restraint or control from the politicians. Any softening of the line by the Kremlin provokes a swift response from the military. Mr Yeltsin is said to have returned from holiday to Moscow last week to sort out a dispute between Gen Kvashnin and some of his civilian advisers. The general is rumoured to have threatened to resign if the more conciliatory line to Chechnya favoured by the diplomats, worried by mounting condemnation of the war in the West, won the day. Gen Kvashnin has outmanoeuvred the politicians before: he masterminded the operation to seize Pristina airport before Nato forces in June. If that was one of the Russian army's most glorious victory in recent years, its most humiliating defeat was also commanded by Gen Kvashnin, the slaughter of a brigade and several regiments in the storming of Grozny five years ago. The military has avoided any repeat of that bloodbath so far, but partly because it has still to fight the Chechens in terrain favourable to the guerrillas, such as in towns or mountains. The United States last night accused Russia of breaching the Geneva conventions and other international agreements through the use of indiscriminate force against civilians in Chechnya. telegraph.co.uk