Russians Claim 160 Rebels Killed
By Lyoma Turpalov
Associated Press Writer
Monday, Aug. 7, 2000; 4:46 p.m. EDT

GROZNY, Russia –– The Russian military claimed Monday that up to 160 insurgents were killed over the weekend in Chechnya, as federal artillery hammered parts of the republic after warnings of a possible rebel offensive.

The rebels said they killed 11 Russian servicemen with a remote-controlled mine that struck a military convoy just south of the capital Grozny on Monday. Abi Dar, commander of the unit that carried out the attack, said it damaged an armored personnel carrier and three trucks and downed nearby trees.

The military command confirmed the convoy was hit, according to Russian news reports, but gave no information about casualties.

The casualty claims from both sides could not be independently confirmed. Both Russian officials and Chechen fighters routinely exaggerate the other side's losses.

Russian troops feared a major rebel assault on Sunday, the anniversary of a 1996 battle in the capital Grozny that led to Russia's withdrawal from Chechnya and ended the previous war.

But no major rebel attacks over the weekend were reported. Instead, Russia's military bombarded a forested area near the town of Gudermes. The military said it was thwarting a Chechen advance by firing on rebel hide-outs.

Russian television on Monday showed federal troops firing salvos of 10-foot-long Grad missiles after a commander called out coordinates of a suspected base.

The massive firepower was also directed at some suburbs around Grozny, the Urus-Martan region in central Chechnya and the Nozhai-Yurt region in the west, the military said.

Rebel leaders denied major losses over the weekend.

Even pro-Moscow Chechen leaders questioned whether the rebels planned to attack amid the tight security.

"All speculation about acts of revenge were coming from the Russian forces themselves," said Grozny Deputy Mayor Said-Ali Umalatov.

Tight security imposed by the Russian forces over the past few weeks has paralyzed work on restoring the city's electricity, natural gas and water supply systems, Umalatov told The Associated Press.

Grozny was mostly quiet on Monday, with only occasional burst of gunshots during the night.

The military command said Monday that the head of the Chechen National Security Service, Ibragim Khultygov, had surrendered to federal forces in the Achkoi-Martan district of central Chechnya. It was unclear what prompted the move, though Russian media reported that he recently split from Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov's fractured command.

The Russian government said it began paying pensions Monday to Chechen retirees for the first time in more than a year. The head of the Chechen Pension Fund, Zalmat Zalzayev, told the ITAR-Tass news agency that the Russian government had disbursed $7.9 million to pay pensions for May, June and July to Chechnya's 136,000 pensioners.

Pensions and other social welfare payments stopped or lagged dramatically after Russian troops pulled out at the end of the last war in 1996, leaving Chechnya's political status undecided.

Russians Claim 160 Rebels Killed
By Lyoma Turpalov
Associated Press Writer
Monday, Aug. 7, 2000; 4:46 p.m. EDT

GROZNY, Russia –– The Russian military claimed Monday that up to 160 insurgents were killed over the weekend in Chechnya, as federal artillery hammered parts of the republic after warnings of a possible rebel offensive.

The rebels said they killed 11 Russian servicemen with a remote-controlled mine that struck a military convoy just south of the capital Grozny on Monday. Abi Dar, commander of the unit that carried out the attack, said it damaged an armored personnel carrier and three trucks and downed nearby trees.

The military command confirmed the convoy was hit, according to Russian news reports, but gave no information about casualties.

The casualty claims from both sides could not be independently confirmed. Both Russian officials and Chechen fighters routinely exaggerate the other side's losses.

Russian troops feared a major rebel assault on Sunday, the anniversary of a 1996 battle in the capital Grozny that led to Russia's withdrawal from Chechnya and ended the previous war.

But no major rebel attacks over the weekend were reported. Instead, Russia's military bombarded a forested area near the town of Gudermes. The military said it was thwarting a Chechen advance by firing on rebel hide-outs.

Russian television on Monday showed federal troops firing salvos of 10-foot-long Grad missiles after a commander called out coordinates of a suspected base.

The massive firepower was also directed at some suburbs around Grozny, the Urus-Martan region in central Chechnya and the Nozhai-Yurt region in the west, the military said.

Rebel leaders denied major losses over the weekend.

Even pro-Moscow Chechen leaders questioned whether the rebels planned to attack amid the tight security.

"All speculation about acts of revenge were coming from the Russian forces themselves," said Grozny Deputy Mayor Said-Ali Umalatov.

Tight security imposed by the Russian forces over the past few weeks has paralyzed work on restoring the city's electricity, natural gas and water supply systems, Umalatov told The Associated Press.

Grozny was mostly quiet on Monday, with only occasional burst of gunshots during the night.

The military command said Monday that the head of the Chechen National Security Service, Ibragim Khultygov, had surrendered to federal forces in the Achkoi-Martan district of central Chechnya. It was unclear what prompted the move, though Russian media reported that he recently split from Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov's fractured command.

The Russian government said it began paying pensions Monday to Chechen retirees for the first time in more than a year. The head of the Chechen Pension Fund, Zalmat Zalzayev, told the ITAR-Tass news agency that the Russian government had disbursed $7.9 million to pay pensions for May, June and July to Chechnya's 136,000 pensioners.

Pensions and other social welfare payments stopped or lagged dramatically after Russian troops pulled out at the end of the last war in 1996, leaving Chechnya's political status undecided.

SIR WOLK!
PULEASE, REFRAIN FROM WOLKING THIS MEAGER SPACE.

if the so-called 'baron' is speaking of 'retaining
titles', does that mean he was 'barufi'?
[finger down throat]

eeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww -_-

I'D LIKE RETAINING TITLES SUITABLE.
BARUFI'S A NOBLE KNIGHT.
AS MAITRE I PULL OUT MY EXCALIBUR!

barufi was a stupid _puke_.
20 moronic posts in 25 minutes late one night.
he _deserved_ his banning, several months ago.
=
and what is this stupid sub-camelot tripe you
spout, anyway?
been watching too much 'masterpiece theater' in
the asylum's lounge, or something?.
=
"by my troth! thy mouth dribbles and drools like
unto a faucet crying for a wrench to put the most
dire of wrenchings upon it, lest the dribble
create a pool on the floor....followed by the most
slimy of green mold..."
==
"so say what thou wilt, oh presumptuous brigand of
a knave, so-called 'baron', but have a care, have
a care...."

HOO HAH!!!!

yo, do you hear what i say, blood?

Oil Glut on the Black Sea
0038 GMT, 000808
After a one-week stand off, Turkish authorities finally allowed the SG Enterprise, a 212,000-ton vessel carrying iron ore for a smelter in Romania, to traverse the Turkish straits on Aug. 4-5.

What began as an argument over free passage through the Bosporus and Dardanelles is a precursor of problems to come once large amounts of Caspian oil begin reaching the Black Sea next year. The traffic-clogged Bosporus will be unable to handle the additional traffic. This will grant an oil bonanza to the states of the Black Sea until new export pipelines can be built. Until then, Russia will preside over a pipeline to nowhere.

At its narrowest point the Bosporus’ navigable channels are only 200 meters across. Whenever ships of more than 100,000 tons traverse the Bosporus, the entire straits must close for several hours to prevent accidents, according to the Turkish government. Similar restrictions are in place on the Dardanelles, the other half of the Turkish straits that access the Mediterranean.

Normally, limiting the tonnage and size of ships would solve the traffic problem, but the Turkish straits are unique. According to the 1936 Treaty of Montreux, the Turkish straits are international waters, and Turkey is barred from enacting any regulations or collecting any transit fees for passage on one of the worlds’ busiest waterways. When the treaty was signed, ship traffic measured about 700 ships a year. Annual traffic now surpasses 50,000. Consequently, accidents are inevitable. In 1994 an accident involving an oil tanker killed 28 people and created a 100,000-barrel slick of flaming oil.

And the amount of traffic is steadily increasing. Since the end of the Cold War, the states of the former Soviet bloc have been allowed to trade with international markets – much of that trade passes through the Bosporus. Furthermore, the European Union recently agreed to clear the Danube River, blocked since the 1999 NATO bombings. This will allow shipping from another seven European states to reach the Black Sea – and from there the Bosporus. In response to rising traffic in 1994, Turkey unilaterally adopted a series of 59 regulations to control Bosporus traffic, technically in violation of the Montreux treaty.

Now, with Caspian oil beginning to trickle into the market, a traffic snarl is brewing in the already clogged Bosporus. The Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline, by far the largest of the Caspian pipelines under development, should begin operations in April of next year. Its ultimate capacity is 1.34 million barrels per day (bpd). It is only one of several Caspian oil routes that empty on the Black Sea. Baku-Supsa and Baku-Novorossiysk, when fully operational, could potentially add another 1.2 million bpd.

In 1998 alone, the Turkish government estimated that 420 million barrels of crude is transported through the Turkish straits by a total of 6,500 tankers, a rate of about 1.2 million bpd. If Caspian oil were added to this, it could increase overall ship traffic by as much as 80 percent. The Bosporus simply cannot handle traffic of this magnitude.

Ankara has more than environmental concerns weighing upon it. Turkey’s favored Caspian route, Baku-Ceyhan, would bypass the Bosporus, taking Caspian oil directly to the Mediterranean Sea. One reason for the new restrictions is undoubtedly to encourage that line’s construction.

But the future for the Bosporus is clear – it simply cannot handle much more traffic. Consequently, Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakstan – the countries producing the bulk of the Caspian oil – will trigger a massive oversupply of crude oil in the Black Sea region. Since the Black Sea states themselves don’t consume nearly enough oil by themselves to alleviate this glut, they will enjoy drastically reduced prices for imported oil as a result. The Black Sea states will also experience an intense – if brief – boost to their petroleum refining industries.

Oil Needs of the Black Sea States

Country Consumption Production Imports Refining Capacity
Bulgaria 109 1 108 300 1 108 300
Georgia 21 2 19 109 2 19 109
Moldova 20 0 20 0 0 20 0
Roma140 135 522 135 522
Turkey 626 69 557 691
Ukraine 357 82 275 1,109
Total 1,408 294 1,114 2,659
Note: Much of the region’s refining capacity lies dormant due to chronic management, supply, and privatization complications.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration


Energy markets will eventually find a way to bring the oil to more profitable locations. There are a host of potential secondary transport routes, although construction has only begun on one: Ukraine’s Odessa-Brody line. At least two of these secondary lines – all beyond Russia’s direct control – will be needed to ease the bottleneck. Until this happens, Russia is left with a rather bloated white elephant. The first phase of Tengiz-Novorossiysk cost $2.4 billion. Fully implementing the project will require another $1.8 billion.

The cost of building – and the transit tariffs from operating – these secondary lines will also grant fresh impetus to other pipelines that allow direct sea access. The most cost-effective of these routes lay south, through Iran.

But in the meantime Caspian producers will be frustrated. Five major pipelines from the region are either operational or nearing completion. Three of these terminate on the Black Sea, in addition to another 1.3 million bpd from three other Russian sources. Until secondary lines are constructed, there will be a Black Sea oil glut. With Tengiz-Novorossiysk, the Russian government thought it had finally won the Caspian pipeline race. In reality, it just won the contest’s first leg.

Although terrorist incidents are not uncommon in Central Asia, this particular strike is uncharacteristic of the regional Islamic militant group, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Both the location and method of this assault suggest that the group has launched a new fall offensive, and more fighting seems likely along the Tajik border.

Approximately 100 militants, armed with sniper rifles, grenade launchers and night vision goggles, instigated the firefight at the border guard post, according to ITAR-Tass, which did not report the exact date of the attack. The region has not yet fully recovered from a six-year long civil war within Tajikistan, begun by the same group of militants.

After killing 10 border guards from the southern Surkhondaryo region, the militants battled a joint operation by both Uzbek and Tajik border guards, as well as Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry troops, reported Agence France Presse. The few people who live in this area of Uzbekistan – 15 to 30 families – have been evacuated, and troops are still fighting the militants, according to the official Uzbek information agency.

The attack contrasts sharply with the normal operations of the IMU, Central Asia’s dominant Islamic militant group. The group’s avowed goal is to overthrow the Uzbek government and replace it with the rule of Islamic law. Over the last year, the group launched a series of terrorist operations, usually setting off bombs and kidnapping civilians in exchange for ransoms. The group did not, however, engage military forces directly and struck no targets in southern Uzbekistan.

The attack on the border post is an act not of terrorism but of war. At least some members of the group are based in the 13,000-foot mountains along the Uzbek-Tajik border; fighters could have easily avoided the border post to run drugs, weapons or people across the border. In fact, the group didn’t just kill the few guards on patrol but engaged the post itself.

The group also seems to have taken governments in the region by surprise. The whereabouts of the group have been the subject of considerable – and not entirely accurate – intelligence efforts. In May, Tajik officials reported that the IMU had largely moved its operations and fighters to Afghanistan. In June, Kyrgyz officials reported that 2,000 to 2,500 IMU rebels were training in the central Tajik town of Tavildara, and would likely resume attacks in Kyrgyzstan. It appears that all the while, the group must have also been strengthening its forces on Tajikistan’s other border – that with Uzbekistan.

Perhaps inspired by the endurance of Chechen militants against the Russian army, the IMU has intentionally initiated fighting in southern Uzbekistan. Either the attack on the border post is surprisingly out of character, or it is an effective distraction of military strength from the fighting that is about to break out on Tajikistan’s northern border

THIS IS REALLY GOOD NEWS IF TRUE.IF YOU HAVE NOT READ HIS BOOKS YOU SHOULD.

---

Solzhenitsyn a Major Influence on Putin Says Chubais

MOSCOW, Aug 7, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Former Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a major influence on the ideas of Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB colonel, the former chief of Russia's economy said on Monday.

Solzhenitsyn's criticism of the mass sell-off of state assets in post-Communist Russia inspired Putin's attack against the country's clutch of powerful businessmen or "oligarchs", Anatoly Chubais said.

"Solzhenitsyn's sincere and deep conviction is that the privatization results must be annulled," Chubais, who masterminded Russia's privatization scheme, told the Russian weekly magazine Vlast.

"Unfortunately, I have reason to think that this is not only his personal, private views, but it is also something which has seriously affected the situation. He is directly linked to what's happening now," Chubais said.

Chubais, president of the state electricity monopoly (UES), is considered to be one of the Russian "oligarchs", business tycoons whose influence increased dramatically during Boris Yeltsin's presidency.

Putin launched a crackdown on the oligarchs just weeks after his May inauguration, accusing them of having illegally built their fortunes in the capitalist free-for-all since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Many oligarchs have been targeted for alleged tax evasion and rigged acquisitions of state enterprises during the privatization process.

"It's a paradox, but it's a fact: Solzhenitsyn's ideas today fully coincide with the most reactionary part of the Russian secret services and the Communist Party," charged Chubais, one of the leaders of the liberal Union of Rightist Forces.

Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel literature prize winner who spent two decades in exile, has bitterly criticized the post-Soviet Russian authorities, accusing them of being corrupted by outside influences.

"There are invisible magnates who spin their webs all over the executive branch and divide its power among themselves," he said in mid-May, adding that "no one said that this web was torn" with Putin's election.

AP International
Belgian Doctors Leave Kosovo
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Accusing the United Nations of allowing ethnic cleansing to persist in Kosovo, the Belgian branch of the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders announced Monday it was ceasing operations in Kosovo.
Doctors Without Borders ''can no longer tolerate the serious and continuous deterioration of living conditions of the ethnic minorities in Kosovo,'' the group said in a statement released in Pristina. French teams from Doctors Without Borders will remain in the province.
The group said the Belgian doctors had been ''eyewitnesses to the daily harassment and terror against the Serb minority in (the towns of) Vucitrn and Srbica and the Albanian minority in (the northern part of Kosovska) Mitrovica.''
The group said life for ethnic minorities was marked by killings, drive-by shootings, hand grenade attacks, verbal abuse, threats, robbery and blackmail. Many had been forced to leave their homes, the group said.
More than a year after NATO and the United Nations marched into Kosovo, mistrust and violence still fester between ethnic Albanians, Serbs and other minority groups. International officials make almost daily appeals for tolerance, saying ethnic tensions are preventing the southern Serb province from achieving economic and social progress.
''Doctors Without Borders questions the appropriateness of humanitarian medical and psychological assistance when, in the presence of internationally mandated protection forces, the fundamental rights of people are being denied,'' the statement said.
The Paris-based group, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, has worked in Kosovo since 1993. It provides home-based care in the ethnically divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica.

The ALLAMERICAN is on the other board talking his usual one liner BS.The guy is definatly retarded.Hey Mary you can bash him to your hearts contentment over there.Leave a post for him----something like remember me from DMS.......We Ultra, Dima, and myself knocked the crap out of American Psycho today.He is some chimp from Florida.At least this clown can put two sentences together.

igor:
yes, i read the 'docs w/o borders' story in the paper ths morning...

so now _both_ sides are 'cleansing' each other?
did they _smell_ funny? -_-
does everyone need a nice long _bubble bath_?
==
hell yes! that's inappropriate to joke about.
wtf are these people _doing_ to each other? wtf?
==


[+1sk4tq]

BARUFI?! LOL
HUMBLY DIRECTING YOU AT THE FACT BARUFI CANNOT BE BANNED..BORED YES..LOL..BUT YOU ARE IN A DIRE NEED FOR A WEBBEGINNERS PRIMER..TO CONCEIVE WHY?..IT IS SO..[*&%$^%$#$)*{}]..APPRETICESHIP IN MY CASTLE IS THUS EXTENDED TO THEE..LOL
THOU ART IN POSESSION OF GREAT TRIPING SKILLS..I COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAVE DECRIED A BETTER PICTURE OF THINE MAC PLIGHT..MY WORLDLY OFFER REMAINS EXTENDED -I SHALL FURTHER A MAC TO THEE..FEDEX..I AM IN POSESSION OF ONE..DEEPFREEZED..BIG..BETTER THAN THINE OBNOXIOUS GREEN MOLD..

August 8, 2000
Web posted at: 11:08 AM EDT (1508 GMT)


MOSCOW -- At least seven people have died and 31 were injured after a bomb blast at an underpass near the Kremlin in central Moscow.

The explosion happened Tuesday afternoon at the busy underground walkway, the Russian Interior Ministry told CNN.

A second device was found and defused as 30 ambulances and fire engines raced to the scene.

The underpass leads to Moscow's well-known Pushkin square and is just hundreds of metres from the Kremlin.






Traffic stopped
The explosion happened at 6:04 p.m. local time (1404 GMT), said Irina Andrianova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

Traffic above ground was stopped and entrances to the walkway were closed.

The press service of for the Federal Security Service (FSB), the main domestic intelligence service, said FSB agents and police were sent to the scene.

Interior Ministry forces said the enclosed underground passageway compounded the effect of the blast.

Casulaties burnt and bloodied
Stunned victims with torn clothes and burns staggered out of the passageway as other people ran for cover.

Maria Korzhenikova, a 19-year-old saleswoman who works in a shop in the underground passageway, told the Associated Press news agency: "I thought if I don't get out now I'll die. "I was sitting reading a book ... then the lights went out. The door I was supposed to go through was jammed. It was pitch dark, I climbed through a window."

Medics worked on a number of the wounded as they lay in the street. One man's hand had been blown off. Another was covered with blood, his clothes in tatters.

Chechen rebels suspected
No one immediately claimed responsibility but the Moscow mayor said he believed the bomb was a "terrorist act".

Immediate suspicion concentrated on Chechen rebel forces, who were also blamed for a series of bomb blasts in Russia last year.

Russian police were already on alert for possible attacks by Chechen separatists to mark the fourth anniversary of the rebels' capture of the Chechen capital Grozny.

Moscow and other Russian cities were put on alert last year after a series of apartment bombings killed around 300 people.

The Kremlin blamed the bombings on Chechen rebels and sent troops into Chechnya a few weeks later. The Chechens have denied being involved in the 1999 explosions.

dunno what the bloody hell you're talking about.
just as well, methinks.
-_-