MOSCOW -- With Russia already unnerved by last week's terrorism in the United States, separatist fighters in Chechnya attacked the republic's second city Monday as part of their biggest offensive in months.
The assault on Gudermes, about 30 miles east of the capital, by at least 300
Chechen fighters was one element of what a rebel spokesman called "a coordinated military operation."
Fighters also attacked Russian checkpoints and convoys in and around Grozny,
the devastated Chechen capital. They seized a mountain village and shot down
an army helicopter, killing two generals and eight colonels.
The offensive comes amid increased international attention on Chechnya.
Russian officials contend that foreign Islamic extremists are fueling the separatist insurgency in the southern republic. Many of the rebels, Moscow claims, are mercenaries organized, trained and funded by Osama bin Laden and
other international terrorist figures. This international threat, Russia says, justifies its sweeping military response in Chechnya.
The West remains unconvinced. Noting thousands of civilian deaths and widespread reports of war crimes, the United States and European governments
criticize the Russian response as not only excessive but also counterproductive.
That stance should change now, Russian officials say.
"After what happened, it has become clear why Russia has tried so seriously to eliminate the roots of terrorism on its own territory, on the territory of the Chechen Republic," said chief Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky. "There is a direct connection between [terrorist attacks] that occurred in various Russian cities and what, to my great regret, took place in the United States."
In the late summer of 1999, a wave of apartment bombings killed nearly 300 people in Moscow and other Russian cities. The government blamed the bombings on Chechen separatists. Amid public fear and anger, President Vladimir Putin, then prime minister, ordered Russian troops back into Chechnya, a republic located between the Black and Caspian Seas.
Russian generals vowed to quickly subdue the Muslim separatists who had defeated their forces in the first Chechen war, which ran from 1994 to 1996.
Rebels roam by night
Since entering Chechnya on Oct. 1, 1999, however, Russian forces have suffered at least 15,000 casualties, including nearly 3,200 deaths, according to official figures that most observers consider too low. While Russian soldiers control about 80 percent of Chechnya by day, rebels move at will at
night to conduct attacks and bombings.
Nonetheless, the Russians insist that they are defeating the "terrorists" and slowly winning over the Chechen people.
"In point of fact there are no hostilities under way," Putin said two weeks ago. "We are currently encountering individual attacks by terrorists."
No Chechen has been tried in the 1999 apartment bombings. Russian intelligence officials say that a Chechen field commander named Khattab directed the attacks with financial and logistical support from an Afghanistan-based terrorist force.
Khattab, who goes by one name, is an Arab-born Islamic fundamentalist who is
alleged to have ties to bin Laden. He commands one of the largest and most powerful bands of Chechen fighters. Along with Shamil Basayev, a storied Chechen commander, Khattab has been accused of committing atrocities, including beheading and executing captured Russian soldiers.
Foreign recruits in mix
Foreign recruits are fighting for Khattab, Basayev and other bands that make
up the Chechen resistance. Just how many foreign insurgents there are remains unclear.
Last year a bin Laden associate who goes by the war name of Abu Daoud told The Associated Press that the man the U.S. considers its prime suspect behind the four deadly hijackings last Tuesday had twice sent 400 Arab fighters to Chechnya with explosives and weapons.
American officials say evidence the Russians have shown them fails to prove a Chechen link in the Moscow bombings. But most Western officials acknowledge that the Chechen insurgency is not entirely homegrown.
"There is indeed an internationalist terrorist dimension to that," a Western
diplomat said last week. "Osama bin Laden could well be among those that are
stoking the flames down in Chechnya.
"There is considerable evidence of foreign sources of supply for the weapons. We never disagreed with the Russians that there are international sponsors."
Western officials acknowledge that the attacks on the U.S. could make Russia
even more resistant to criticism on Chechnya. Some Russians consider themselves and their approach vindicated after the devastation that visited the World Trade Center and Pentagon last week.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal