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| Caucasus |
| Preventive Strikes on Pankisi Planned |
| 2002-09-21 |
| Combined Reports Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Moscow was prepared to unleash preventive strikes on militants in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, and that he would give U.S. officials evidence of a terrorist presence across Russia's southern border. "If we see that bandits are headed in our direction and only 10 to 15 kilometers are left before the border, should we wait for them to cross the border, kill someone and disperse?" Ivanov, who is on a trip to Washington, said in televised remarks broadcast Thursday. "Naturally, in this situation we will take a preventive action to protect our security and lives of our citizens." Notice that reference to "preventive action"? Bush and Putin have been talking. Toldja the fix was in on this. Betcha there's a run on Russian phrase books in the shops in Tbilisi... Ivanov's statement drew an immediate angry response from Georgia. Dzhemal Gakhokidze, deputy chief of President Eduard Shevardnadze's Security Council, warned that a Russian operation in Georgia would amount to an "aggression and an international crime." "Of course you should let them cross your border and kill people and then disperse... Uhhh... Did I say that? No, no! I meant, 'The government of Georgia is taking all actions to prevent illegal border crossings.' We've just hardly found anybody yet..." Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesman for federal forces in Chechnya, said Thursday that soldiers were battling several dozen rebels who had crossed into the region from Georgia. Sergei Livantsov, a spokesman for the regional border guards headquarters, said that a Russian patrol spotted a dozen gunmen in southern Chechnya near the border with Georgia and called for an artillery strike, the Interfax-Military News Agency reported. And they didn't give a rat's patoo which side of the line they were on. Russian artillery operates on a different principle than the U.S., by the way. Our guys shoot at a specific target; their guys target the entire quadrant, to an area of anywhere from 100x100 meters to 500x500 meters, and then saturate it with umpteen rounds... President Vladimir Putin last week ordered the military to draw up plans to carry out strikes on suspected Chechen rebel bases in Georgia's lawless Pankisi Gorge. He said the strikes would be carried out if Chechen rebels cross into Georgia while being chased by Russian forces. "Hot pursuit" would seem to make a lot of sense, as any Vietnam-era commander could attest... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |