Russia & Georgia at Logger Heads Over Chechnya

04/08/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Chechen Fighters Kill 10 Russian Soldiers & Wound 13 Others||Russia Accuses Georgia of Doing Nothing to Curb What It Calls 'Terrorism'||Tensions Escalate as U.S. Army Officers Prepare to Train Georgian Troops to Fight International Terrorism||Georgia Arrests Seven Chechen Fighters; Russia Unimpressed|| STORY: Russian officials reported new attacks by nationalist fighters in breakaway Chechnya as Russia and Georgia traded more accusations Saturday about the movement of Chechen fighters across their common border.

The fighters have killed ten Russian soldiers and paramilitary police and wounded another 13 in attacks over the past 24 hours, said an official in the Kremlin-backed administration in Chechnya.

Russian troops have conducted security sweeps in regions south of the capital Grozny, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

RUSSIA CARRIES OUT SECURITY SWEEPS IN CHECHNYA

The so-called mopping-up operations were conducted in the regions of Vedeno, Itum-Kale and Achkhoi-Martan, the official said, adding that more than 100 people had been detained for question about possible links to nationalists groups.

The Interfax news agency reported that eight Chechen fighters had been killed in the security operations. It said the Russian troops found caches of weapons and confiscated 11 firearms, two mortar charges and four grenade launchers.

Meantime, Russian border guards dispersed a group of 60 Chechen fighters who reportedly crossed the border from the Pankisi Gorge in neighboring Georgia last week, the press service of Russia's North Caucasus regional border guards told the ITAR-Tass news agency.

The report said 16 of the intruders were killed since crossing the border a week ago, and the remaining insurgents dispersed into smaller groups. At least eight Russian border guards were also killed in the fighting, Russian officials have said.

RUSSIA ACCUSES GEORGIA OF DOING NOTHING TO CURB 'CHECHEN FIGHTERS'

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov also accused Georgia of failing to curb what he calls 'terrorism.'

"Regrettably, apart from general statements promising to do away with terrorism, nothing is being done in practical terms," Ivanov told the Interfax news agency. "Recent events show that international mercenaries feel at home in the Pankisi Gorge."
GEORGIA ARRESTS CHECHEN FIGHTERS

Georgian officials said Saturday they had captured a group of seven Chechen fighters who crossed from Chechnya into Georgia.

The fighters, some of whom were injured, said they had been involved in a battle in the Itum-Kale district and had been forced to cross the Georgian border by Russian soldiers, said a joint statement by Georgia's state security ministry and border guard service. The fighters were taken to the Georgian capital Tbilisi for a criminal investigation.

The Georgian government has notified the Russian border guard service and the local monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe about the incident, the statement said.

Despite the arrests, Russia continued to accuse Georgia of failing to fight terrorism

GEORGEAN OFFICIALS DOUBT RUSSIAN CLAIMS

Georgian officials have cast doubt on the Russian claims that Chechen are crossing over from Georgia. But Georgia is hosting a group of U.S. military instructors who are training the Georgian army in anti-terrorism techniques for use in the the Pankisi Gorge - where the U.S. says fighters with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network may be hiding.

At the same time, Georgia has accused Russia of sending combat aircraft to raid its territory, on the pretext of attacking Chechen rebels in the mountainous border region.

Georgia said the Russian attacks amounted to aggression against a neighbouring sovereign state.

Russia denied the allegations.

PHOTO CAPTION

The Pankisi Gorge is home to the Kists, a local ethnic-Chechen community, as well as refugees from Chechnya who have moved in more recently. The gorge lies in Georgia's Akhmeta District, which - in the Russian reporter's account - has been split in two since the new arrivals from Chechnya upset the previous coexistence between the Kists and Orthodox Georgians