The News-Virginian from Waynesboro, Virginia • 13

'W Waynesboro VA Sunday January 16 2(XX) THE NEWS VIRGINIAN I National News The war drags on While tired Russian soldiers feel betrayed by their commanders military strategists remain optimistic about winning the war in Chechnya AP PHOTO MV Jlr 1 1 Russian soldiers warm their hands by a fire during a brief stop on a road side near Muzhichi In the southern Russian region of Ingushetia near war torn Chechnya WednesdayThe Russian military command issues upbeat reports of the Chechnya offensive but soldiers deployed around the war tom republic share none of the optimism and some say they feel they are regarded as can non folder betrayed or abandoned by their commanders AP PHOTO a I SSf fWi IMgMQMSMWff I 3 I A Chechen refugee returning home to the war shattered republic gestures to passersby as a Russian soldier stands guard at Sleptsovskaya a border checkpoint between Chechnya and the Russian region of Ingushetia Saturday Some 90000 of the 250000 refugees who had fled Chechnya since the Russian military offen sive began have returned home according to official figures Russian strikes on Chechnya continue oil depot hit Soldiers feel tired betrayed in campaign By ANNA DOLGOV Associated Press Writer GROZNY Russia By a tumble Emergency Situations Ministry offi cer who travels to the war zone near ly daily to deliver aid to Chechen civilians or pick up refugees said weather beaten face when other soldiers teased him about his nickname and his playboy reputation By RUSLAN MUSAYEV Associated Press Writer GROZNY Russia Russian bombs and artillery rained down on the Chechen capital with renewed intensity Saturday setting an oil depot ablaze and sending black smoke into the sky Both sides claimed to be inflicting heavy losses in the protracted fight for the capital Grozny Russian soldiers attacked the city with mortar fire and heavy fighting was reported at a meat canning factory and in other parts of the city acting president Vladimir Putin insisted the offensive was going according to plan despite rebel attacks last week that set back the Russian campaign "The Chechen civilians are our citizens and we will never sacri fice them for the sake of a military goal We will act toughly but not cruelly" Vladimir Putin acting president of Russia down wooden shack flanked by elm trees a scraggy 20 year old Russian conscript clutches a cigarette between his fingers and stares at the snow around his feet A deafening burst of artillery cracks nearby knocking clumps of snow from the trees and sending them to the ground with a low thud The soldier Dima Labazov even look up are tired of this war Labazov said his voice low and expressionless He said his pla toon was promised it would be out of Chechnya by Jan 26 but all men tion of a plane trip home has stopped seems they have written off another 115 strong company was stationed in Chernorechye on Dec 11 When it was redeployed on Jan 2 only 17 men were left you talk with some body then come back in a day and ask about the guy but already been Kvashnev said The Russian military command issues upbeat reports of the Chechnya offensive But soldiers deployed around the war torn republic share none of the opti mism and say they feel they are regarded as cannon fodder betrayed or abandoned by their commanders The sentiments contrast with the combative nationalist statements voiced by many service But eyes darkened when he recalled the Argun Gorge where his 60 strong company ran into an ambush by Chechen fight ers Sixteen soldiers were killed and 27 injured lost a lot of good he said his voice growing low with sudden bitterness Army trucks loaded with disfig ured bodies of Russian troops roll out of Chechnya into the neighbor ing Russian region of Ingushetia every day At least a dozen bodies arrive daily a number several times above the official casualty fig ures said soldiers stationed at bor der checkpoints between Chechnya and Ingushetia take Grozny and then finish our Some days they carry out 20ft men earlier in the offensive when the operation in the he said on ORT television Saturday night high popularity is considered closely its way from Grozny to southern Chechen The frontline is right here cut ting through a neighborhood thick with trees and badly damaged brick the Russians were sweeping easily through the northern lowlands bodies all cut said Denis' Kulikov 20 a soldier from a unit staffing a border checkpoint tied to his role in managing the war in Chechnya bases the ITAR Tass news agency reported But the casualty claims are impossible to ver buildings in the Chechen capital Grozny Rebel fighters are posi Many still talk ardently of finish ing off the Chechen and look into a truck there are arms piled up in a heap You He also promised to respect people Chechen civilians are our citizens and we will never sacrifice them for the sake of a military goal We will act toughly but not he said Also Saturday the president of the neigh boring Russian republic of Ingushetia said the military had lifted all restrictions on Chechens trying to enter or exit Chechnya The order last week to detain all males between age 10 and 60 to check for rebel ties provoked strong foreign criticism No explanation was given for lifting the restric tion The oil depot at main refinery caught fire after it was bombed by Russian warplanes Saturday Chechen rebels claimed ify and both sides usually exaggerate enemy losses and underreport their own Defense Ministry has denied media reports of growing Russian casualties But Chechen commander Mumadi Saidayev insisted the rebels retain the upper hand Observers say the Russians despite their much larger force and better weaponry could get bogged down in guerrilla fighting in the mountains against rebels familiar with the unforgiving terrain guerrilla war will go on until the last Russian soldier leaves Chechnya and it will intensify every Saidayev said in an interview Grozny there are attempts by the federals to break through the defense which are accompanied by great losses Almost the whole city is controlled by the tioned just a few hundred yards away The men in unit have held the 1500 yard stretch of ground since Sept 18 at times inch ing forward toward the center of the city then ordered to retreat again in a series of movements the soldiers cannot explain or understand unit had 115 men when it was deployed in the Grozny neigh borhood of Chernorechye on Sept 18 but only 58 were left by mid January Some were wounded but most were killed soldiers said Alexander Kvashnev an restoring the motherland but among other Russian soldiers morale is souring as the campaign especially the fight for Grozny drags on set us up every step of the way Or sell us said a soldier who gave his name as Mikhail Kazantsev after his unit had come out of a battle in the Argun Gorge in restive southern mountains A professional serviceman who has seen much death and violence Kazantsev was trading jokes with his comrades during a brief break on a march A quick smile lit up even tell whose arm or whose leg it Many of the bodies are those of 18 to 20 year olds who had been' rounded up by mandatory military draft barely trained and sent into battle against experienced Chechen guerrillas The Russian government said only soldiers who had served at six months in the army would be deployed in Chechnya But many conscripts reported being sent into the war torn republic after five months in the military Some killed in their first battle their com rades said 1 that one of their anti aircraft units shot down an Su 25 bomber in Grozny on riday night The Russian Defense Ministry denied the claim Reflecting a steady increase in bombing sorties in recent days the Russian military reported 180 raids over the past 24 hours Russian news reports said The strikes appeared the heaviest in weeks Lt Col Konstantin Kukharenko a military spokesman said Saturday that Russian troops had captured the towns of Sharoi and Simoi in the southern mountains and that rebels were trying to escape the area disguised as civilians tea Munayev the rebel commandant in Grozny said 28 Russian scouts were killed in the capital on Saturday Russia claimed it killed 58 rebels from a group trying to make Rebel attacks in streets devastat ed Russian troops in the 1994 96 Chechnya war Seeking to avoid a repeat scenario military this time has hammered the city with bombs for months and sent in small groups of soldiers to pick off remaining fight ers The strategy yet brought tha Russians a major victory in Grozny It has left much of the city in ruins and the remaining residents huddled in basements Russia moved troops into Chechnya in late September after weeks of airstrikes The offensive is intended to wipe out Chechnya based rebels who twice invaded the neighbor ing republic of Dagestan in August and who are blamed for apartment bombings else where in Russia that killed about 300 people News tip or story idea? 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