23:46, 21 October 2004

No change in security agencies' tactics in Chechnya

Attacks against federal soldiers and officers of local security agencies, which have become more frequent lately, are no more than rebels' try to show their abilities. "A number of bandit actions considerably increases when leaders of bandit units receive money from abroad and also at instants when some international forums, such as PACE sessions, are held during which issues related to the situation in Chechnya are discussed," an officer of the Chechen Interior Ministry said in his interview with the Caucasian Knot correspondent. "Basayev, Maskhadov, and other field commanders just work off the money they get and try to show they represent real force.

Measures to counteract rebels in Chechnya, in the officer's words, will basically not change. The matter concerns reconnaissance and search actions conducted by special operations groups and aimed at uncovering rebel camps and bases in the mountains and their liquidation by air force or artillery. Another part of the work is intelligence service.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot