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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Caucasus Corpse Count |
| 2005-02-15 |
| Russian forces engaged in a "special operation" in the breakaway southern republic of Chechnya killed six rebels, news agencies reported, quoting a military spokesman in the region. Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for Russian forces in the north Caucasus region which includes Chechnya, said the operation took place overnight on Sunday near the villages of Starye Atagi and Novye Atagi, in the southeast of the republic. State television footage showed an overnight firefight and several rebels, dressed in camouflage, lying killed on the ground in the snow. Ten rebels were reported to have escaped the Russian attack in the dark. Rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has called on all separatist forces to observe a ceasefire during most of February, and his spokesman told AFP that the Russians "provoked" the deadly exchange of fire. "We have not broken the ceasefire. But there are constant provocations from the Russian special services, as well as disinformation being spread by the Russian army's press service. "They are trying to discredit our idea of a ceasefire," Maskhadov's spokesman Akhmed Zakayev said by telephone from London, where he has won immunity from Russian prosecution, which a British court ruled was politically motivated. Zakayev confirmed that Russia has refused to hold official peace talks since the ceasefire call, and warned that violence in the republic was likely to grow after the ceasefire call expires on February 23. "I doubt that something will happen on the 23rd itself," Zakayev said. "But I think that if in the remaining time the Russian side fails to respond to our peace initiative, then the decree's order (for a ceasefire) will in fact end." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |