St. Peter Mavimenus says: "Whoever does not embrace the Catholic Christian religion will be damned, as was Mohammed."

St. George of San Saba says: "Mohammed was a disciple of the devil, and his followers are in a state of perdition."

news:

January 29, 2000 (en français)

Kavkaz-Tsentr reports:

Bitter fighting continues in Dzhokhar. Now the most ferocious ones take place around the Akhtayev stadium (former Ordzhonikidze stadium): A large armoured column yesterday moved towards it from the direction of Karpinsky Kurgan. The Mujahideen attacked it with mortars and RPGs. Having lost 4 armoured vehicles and 3 'Urals' the Russians retreated.
There was also combat action near the Republican hospital, the 13th school, the tinning factory, in the 6th micro-district, and in Chernorechye. The Mujahideen attacked in Tashkala for the second time in three days.
According to General Khamzat Gelayev the Russians in Dzhokhar are loosing 100-300 every day. During the last 24 hours about 200 aggressors have been killed, 9 armoured vehicles have been destroyed.
In this same period 7 Mujahideen died, 11 have been wounded.

RUSSIANS CAN'T WIN! BECAUSE IT SAYS SO IN QU'RAN!

SURAT 2 AL-BAQARAH, VERSE 73:

SO WE (ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE MOST MERCIFUL) SAID: "STRIKE HIM (THE DEAD MAN [CHECHEN MUJAHIDEEN]) WITH A PIECE OF IT (THE COW)." THUS ALLAH BRINGS THE DEAD TO LIFE AND SHOWS YOU HIS AYAT (PROOFS, EVIDENCES, VERSES, LESSONS, SIGNS, REVELATIONS, ETC.) SO THAT YOU MAY UNDERSTAND.

CHECHEN MUJAHIDEEN WILL NOT LOSE AS LONG AS THEY HAVE ENOUGH COWS IN GROZNY!

ALLAHU AKHBAR!

antonio:

no offence, but have these catholic saints been comvicted for child molestation? if not, have been convicted of raping the women in their congragations. if not have their molsted you so badly that you are posting their crapshit on this board?

January 30, 2000


Mothers Help Sons Outwit Draft Board in
Wartime Russia

By CELESTINE BOHLEN

MOSCOW, Jan. 29 -- With Russian soldiers dying again in Chechnya, Galya A. is ready to do anything to keep her gangly 18-year-old son, Ruslan, from doing his compulsory two-year military service.

If she could, she would bribe her local draft board. But on the paltry $25 pensions she and her disabled husband get each month, it would take them another lifetime to save up the going price, which ranges from $2,000 to $5,000.

She could try to dramatize Ruslan's list of childhood ailments, but none are serious enough to warrant a coveted medical exemption.

So at a time when draftees are going to war just six months after they learn to fire a gun, what is a desperate mother to do?

"Divorce, my dear," said Ludmila Obraztsova, a volunteer for the Soldiers' Mothers Committee who
conducts a weekly seminar on ways to dodge the draft legally, held oddly enough in a central Moscow veterans club. "You can live together with
your husband, you do whatever you want together,
but if you want to get your son out of the draft, your best chance is divorce." In that way, Mrs. Obraztsova said, Ruslan could legally argue that he was the only able-bodied person available to support his 63-year-old pensioned father, a certified invalid.

This is the kind of blunt if convoluted advice that Mrs. Obraztsova has been giving since 1990 when she, a mother of two sons, joined the Soldiers' Mothers Committee, an advocacy and support group that sprang up during the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.

Mrs. Obraztsova, 53, a researcher at a medical-technical institute, has counseled thousands of mothers on how to get their 18- to 27-year-old sons out of Russia's twice-yearly draft, guiding them through the maze of draft laws, past a hostile military that has resisted the concept of alternative service, and around the increased pressure created by two bloody wars in Chechnya.

Many of the mothers who come to the sessions and take copious notes
would come anyway, but the latest war, while popular as a move to keep
Russia intact, has added urgency to their quest. "Who would want to give
up their son to such a war?" said Tanya Knyazina, who came on behalf
of her 19-year-old son. "As my son says himself, if it were a question of
fighting for the motherland, of defending Moscow, he would gladly serve,
but why should he go and fight, and die, for Chechnya?"

Avoiding the Russian draft is, in many ways, similar to unraveling other
Russian bureaucratic tangles: it takes intimate knowledge of arcane
regulations, and a readiness to juggle family, residence and more to avoid
a direct conflict with the authorities. If all else fails, you can try to buy
your way out of a situation -- if you have the means.

"People who can afford to pay bribes don't come to our Monday
meetings," Mrs. Obraztsova said. "We counsel the middle class, the ones
who can't pay."

Mrs. Obraztsova's suggestion made sense to Galya A., a 56-year-old
pensioner who asked that her last name not be used. Since she has two
sons by a previous marriage, the family could not argue that Ruslan was
the only able-bodied breadwinner. But if Galya divorced Ruslan's father,
then he could get a deferment as his father's only means of support.

"A divorce is nothing, you just show up and do it," she said. "Of course,
we don't want to do it, but with this war going on, what else can we do?
He is our last, and only son. Without him, we would both probably die of
hunger."

For other young men, the solution could be, for instance, adoption. A
single father of a child under 3 gets an automatic exemption, prompting
some young couples to file for a divorce. The father can also get an
exemption if the mother is under 18, or considered unfit to cope alone.
Mrs. Obraztsova herself used one of these loopholes several years ago
to get her younger son out of the draft.

"A friend of ours had a daughter who was pregnant out of wedlock, and
didn't want anything to do with the father," she said. "They knew our
situation and asked me if my son wanted to be the adoptive father. Of
course he does, I said. It worked, and I often pass on the advice to
others. How many take it, I can't tell."

Even in peacetime, even in the Soviet Union before the Afghan war,
many families go and have gone to great lengths to keep their sons out an
army notorious for its brutal treatment of conscripts. Deaths by beating,
suicides and hazing occur regularly, and are the subject of periodic
investigations and reports, but rarely of criminal prosecutions.

There are no reliable figures on Russian draft dodgers, but the Defense
Ministry last spring claimed their number in 1998 had been halved, to
20,000 from 40,000.

According to Moscow's draft board, about 1,500 are avoiding military
service here, but a board spokesman said many of those are students
from other cities, whose papers are tossed back and forth between
boards.

In the spring draft last year, a presidential decree called for 168,776 men
to be drafted, of whom 120,900 were destined for the armed forces. The
rest were sent to other units like the border guards.

With each draft, about 25 percent of the armed forces' personnel is
replaced.

The easiest way to get out of the army is to study. Indeed, the incentive
of avoiding the draft often encourages a sudden devotion to studies
among 17-year-old males. In Moscow, for instance, where an estimated
50,000 young men were due to be processed last fall, an estimated 52
percent of draft-age men were exempted because they are enrolled in
institutes and technical colleges where they take military courses that put
them on an officer's track.

A student deferment can be prolonged indefinitely if the student is
accepted at bona fide institutions that keep him enrolled until he is 27,
when he is no longer draft-eligible.

Medical deferments provide an increasingly popular way out; according
to recent statistics, more than 30 percent of draft-age men are excused
for medical reasons. The high rate is usually explained by the
deteriorating health of the male population generally, but it may also be
due to efforts by people like Mrs. Obraztsova.

"Get your own checkup before your son is called up to the medical
commission," she said at a recent seminar. "Please, please, remember, if
he has any medical complaints, get them documented -- send him to as
many clinics as you can. I know what they will say at the draft board;
they will say that he is healthy, that you bought the medical records.
Believe me, I know plenty of doctors who want to send your sick son
into the armed forces."

There is not a disease, ailment or injury that Mrs. Obraztsova cannot peg
to an article in the draft law. "Hepatitis," she said. "A, B, C, it doesn't
matter: six months. Spinal disorders. I am glad somebody mentioned that.
If it is a third degree, then it can be a deferrable disease. Migraines?
Accompanied by fainting? Get it checked. It can be deferrable. Ulcers?
Beware of radical imported medicines. They are so effective they can
clear away the scar tissue, and you don't want that."

A mother came up to her with a medical card showing that her son
suffers from a serious disease. "Very good," Mrs. Obraztsova said,
nodding sagely, before she stopped herself. "I mean, of course there is
nothing good about it at all, except in these circumstances."

Mrs. Obraztsova is a stickler for the law, which she arguably knows
better than most draft board officials.

She constantly reminds mothers, and the few fathers and sons who
occasionally attend the meetings, how to stand up for their rights.

"Remember you have a right not to agree with the draft board, but do not
lose your temper, keep your voice quiet, just stick a copy of the law
under their noses," she said.

"If they won't listen, don't bother with them, write out your complaint in a
letter and mail it. But keep a copy. Little mothers, always, always, keep
copies of all your documents. One mother came to me, and said the draft
board had kept her medical file, and wouldn't return it. I said to her, my
darling, my little swallow, who do you think you are dealing with?"

For some Russian men, the twice-yearly drafts may be times to get out of
town, and perhaps hide out at the family dacha, or country house.

But increasingly, draft boards have been asking the police to hunt down
stragglers. Late in December, Moscow residents reported that their
buildings had been surrounded by police officers waiting for young men
to return home.

"There are cases when parents think that their children have been
kidnapped," said Valentina Melnikova, a spokeswoman for the Soldiers'
Mothers Committee. "They come home and their sons are gone."

With characteristic sang-froid, Mrs. Obraztsova has advice for parents
who find the police at their door, looking for their son. "Tell them he went
away with a girl," she said. "Tell them you yourself are horrified, but
there's nothing you can do. That one usually works."

To parents whose sons are abroad, her advice is simple: Keep them
away. "If they tell you they want to come home, tell them that an
undeclared war is going on here, and that our boys are being killed," she
said.

Friday, January 28, 2000

Casualty Count Passes 1994-96 Levels

By Yevgenia Borisova


Even as their troops pushed into the sniper-infested streets of Grozny in mid-December, Russian commanders stressed that one of their chief goals was to be stingy with their soldiers' lives.

But the difficulty of routing determined Chechen defenders from the city's ruins is making that goal harder and harder, the government acknowledges.

According to the official count, the monthly casualty rate for Russian troops in Chechnya is now running ahead of the death rate in the 1994-96 war by almost 10 percent - and skepticism about even those figures appears to be spreading.

In the 21-month war during 1994-96, 3,963 soldiers and officers were killed, working out to 188 deaths a month. This time, after almost six months of renewed fighting in Dagestan and Chechnya, 1,173 have died, or 204 a month. There have been 3,487 wounded, and 53 people are missing, according to senior military officials cited by Interfax.

But that's only part of the story, say military analysts, journalists and members of the Union of Soldiers' Mothers Committees. They say the real rate may be as much as several times higher, in part due to the way the military does its count. And even soldiers say they don't believe television reports on casualties. Figures from the previous war have also been questioned.

News media reports disputing official figures have come more and more frequently, and the government's information center, Rosinformtsentr, appears to be making an effort to demonstrate official openness. The center's new director, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, said Thursday that the government will now issue an official toll every Friday.

Yastrzhembsky also gave new figures for the number of troops now serving in the North Caucasus region: 57,000 from the Defense Ministry and 36,000 from the Interior Ministry, for a total of 93,000.

Yastrzhembsky, previously a spokesman for former President Boris Yeltsin, last week returned to the Kremlin administration to take over the government's public-relations effort on the war. Public support for the campaign has been a key contributor to acting President Vladimir Putin's rise in presidential polls ahead of a March 26 special election to replace Boris Yeltsin.

On Tuesday, the government raised its estimate from 900 dead to the 1,173 figure, with officials attributing the higher number to close-quarter street fighting in Grozny and other towns.

Doubting official statistics is no longer confined to veteran government critics such as human rights groups. Even hawkish former Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov has joined in.

"I watch television just as you do," he said in an interview with the Segodnya newspaper earlier this week. "One officer says that in the past day the losses are five dead, 10 wounded. Another - 10 dead, 12 wounded. But I haven't lost professional connections. I talked with an officer who came here for vacation and he says that in such and such brigade 26 people actually perished."

"That is why I am seriously afraid that the information on losses is intentionally understated."

Colonel Viktor Baranets, former spokesman for the Defense Ministry and now a journalist for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, in a Jan. 14 report estimated the number of casualties to be at least 1,300 troops killed, 5,000 wounded and 300 missing in action and kidnapped.

Valentina Melnikova, spokeswoman of the Moscow-based Soldiers' Mothers Committee, said Tuesday night on the "Glas Naroda" program on NTV that "the number of the perished and those who died of wounds the military reduces by at least three times. The number of wounded is being reduced by at least two times.

"I am sure about this because every day we get back questionnaires from our regional branches." The committee assists parents of dead and missing soldiers.

Official statistics have been murky since Chechnya-based militants invaded Dagestan in August. The government has sometimes reported casualty figures separately for Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry troops; sometimes it has given a figure beginning with the August fighting in Dagestan; and sometimes with the invasion of Chechnya proper by Russian troops in late September.

The official death toll grew to 400 in mid-December, and on Dec. 28 General Valery Manilov, first deputy head of the general staff, said in comments televised by NTV that 465 had died.

Just two weeks ago, the number of casualties was officially reported to be only a little more than 700. On Monday, Interfax quoted sources in the security forces as saying that 29 had been killed in Chechnya in December alone, with the offensive to take Grozny beginning Dec. 14.

Lieutenant General Alexander Mikhailov, a spokesman at Rosinformtsentr, said he does not believe that official figures on casualties are being distorted.

However, he said some military procedures in counting might account for differences between outsiders' counts and the official count.

"There is a special technology for reporting on casualties," Mikhailov said. "A person who is being put in a helicopter just barely alive is not considered dead but wounded. If he dies in that helicopter he is registered as being a hospital loss."

"I can't tell you whether and how those losses are counted, and whether they are added to the lists of the dead," Mikhailov said.

"The numbers skyrocketed because we started to fight in the cities - Grozny, Argun, Shali. It is different to fighting in fields. That is why the Americans had only about 90 people lost in the Persian Gulf War. In cities every house, every street is shooting."

Military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said inexperienced conscript soldiers sufficed to take the open northern part of Chechnya, but not to defeat experienced rebels in street fighting. "When the same force that was planned to only occupy the northern part of Chechnya was sent to storm Grozny and the mountains, catastrophe became inevitable," he said.

$1,000 buys ticket to the war zone

FROM GILES WHITTELL IN MOSCOW



RUSSIA'S security forces are accepting bribes of up to $1,000 (about £615) a day to take journalists to frontline positions in the battle for Grozny, a government official acknowledged yesterday after a press conference in which Moscow had hoped to seize the initiative in the Chechnya information war.
Sergei Yastrzhembsky, appointed by acting President Putin to co-ordinate information from the war zone, was confronted by a French photographer, who described three recent trips to the region's war-torn capital, all arranged by officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in return for substantial cash payments.

"I returned from Grozny three days ago," Antoine Gyori, of the Sygma photo agency, said. "My journalist's accreditation was useless, but my hundred-dollar bills worked like a dream."

Waving one in Mr Yastrzhembsky's face, Mr Gyori added: "The Chechens have never asked me for money, but the FSB always does. It is shameful."

Mr Yastrzhembsky replied: "Yes, it is shameful. I agree with everything you say. Come with me next time you go to Chechnya and you won't pay a rouble."

The exchange encapsulated the difficulty in which Russian officials find themselves as they try to control information in an increasingly costly war, while disenchanted soldiers on the ground latch on to journalists as a source of cash or as a channel through which to vent fears and frustrations.

When not greased with hard currency, the Russian information blockade around Chechnya can be unyielding. Reporters from The Times have been detained twice by the FSB (the KGB's successor) trying to find a way through it, and most recently have used disguise to enter the country with a Chechen guide.

Mr Yastrzhembsky said he did not think Moscow had given foreign reporters enough opportunity to see "what we are doing in Chechnya". He promised to reorganise by next week a tortuous system of accreditation that has served so far to keep all but the most co-operative Russian reporters off most military trips into the war zone.From now on, the only official Russian sources on the war will be Mr Yastrzhembsky and General Valeri Manilov of the Armed Forces' general staff, he said.

All journalists in the region would be required to have life insurance and their freedom of movement would be limited "for their own security" because of the risk of kidnapping.

It was no surprise when the new team in charge of war news rejected claims that official casualty figures are far lower than the real ones. The official Russian death toll since fighting began in Dagestan in August stood at 820 yesterday, but anonymous army sources put it at 1,173.

RUSSIANS CAN'T WIN! BECAUSE IT SAYS SO IN QU'RAN!

SURAT 2 AL-BAQARAH, VERSE 73:

SO WE (ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE MOST MERCIFUL) SAID: "STRIKE HIM (THE DEAD MAN [CHECHEN MUJAHIDEEN]) WITH A PIECE OF IT (THE COW)." THUS ALLAH BRINGS THE DEAD TO LIFE AND SHOWS YOU HIS AYAT (PROOFS, EVIDENCES, VERSES, LESSONS, SIGNS, REVELATIONS, ETC.) SO THAT YOU MAY UNDERSTAND.

CHECHEN MUJAHIDEEN WILL NOT LOSE AS LONG AS THEY HAVE ENOUGH COWS IN GROZNY!

ALLAHU AKHBAR!

January 28 2000 RUSSIA


Alice Lagnado, in hiding in southernChechnya, learnsof the latest bloodybattle for Grozny

©
Russian soldiers, one of them suffering from burns, warm themselves by a fire on the northwestern outskirts of Grozny
Photograph: AP


Rebels 'kill 700 Russian troops'



RUSSIAN troops were driven back after a struggle for control of the Minutka Square area of Grozny that began early on Wednesday and ended yesterday morning, Chechen rebel sources say.
The rebels report that Russian forces lost up to 700 troops in one of the heaviest battles yet for control of the city.

A Chechen field commander based in southern Chechnya who is in constant touch with the rebels fighting in Grozny told The Times that the battle near Minutka Square, although it did not reach the square, began in the early hours of Wednesday when Russian troops launched an offensive from the direction of Khankala, a village east of Grozny.

Chechen rebels are able to communicate easily among themselves with simple, readily available walkie-talkies.

The Russians in the latest assault on Grozny were defence ministry troops and other special army regiments, the commander said. They came from two directions on either side of the railway tracks leading from Khankala to Grozny. Between 500 and 700 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting, he said.

Approximately 30 tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) were destroyed, their burnt shells lining the eastern approach to Minutka Square.

Another 12 tanks and APCs were left intact, abandoned by fleeing Russian troops, the Chechen commander said. Chechen forces had repulsed the Russians largely through the use of rocket-propelled grenades.

According to the American-backed Radio Liberty, up to 50 Chechen rebels were also killed. Chechen commanders, who expect each of their men to kill at least 20 Russians, consider even singlefigure losses to be very serious.

The losses on both sides, even taking into account possible exaggeration, are tremendous and mark the beginning of a new phase in the war. According to the Chechen field commander, rebel forces had retaken the Staraya Sunzha region by the time fighting ended yesterday morning.

Russian forces controlled only the 6th micro-region in northern Grozny, he said. In the northwest, Russian troops still controlled the village of Katayama, in the Staropromyslovsky suburbs, but had not reached far beyond.

In the southeast, Russian troops had reached the tuberculosis hospital in the Oktyabrskoye region in the suburbs of Grozny.

Moscow sent 300 extra troops into Grozny on Thursday, according to news agency reports, and now has more than 120,000 troops in the tiny republic.


Meanwhile, in the Russiancontrolled territory of Chechnya outside Grozny, Moscow's forces are living up to their reputation for rudeness, intimidation and violence. Bella, 46, escaped from Grozny a fortnight ago and now lives in a dark, crowded hostel with 1,700 other refugees in the village of Sernovodsk, west of Grozny.

In Grozny, she said, she saw Russian troops eating dogs and cats because they had trouble maintaining their food supplies. She said that there was a filtration camp where Chechen men were tortured at the 6th Polyclinic in the Staropromyskovsky region in Grozny's northwestern outskirts.

Bella said that Russian planes were bombing Grozny regularly, but she had not seen any troops in the street.

In her street, there were only two homes that had not been abandoned. Both housed elderly Russians. Their only source of water was puddles of melted snow.

Bella reported that soldiers visited the village of Zakan Yurt, near Sernovodsk, on December 13 and killed a doctor and his wife for no apparent reason.

Rashid Dadayev, 50, the head doctor at a psychiatric hospital there, and his wife Tamara, 42, were driving to the hospital when masked troops shot at them from an APC. Both were killed instantly.

23 Nov 1999: Russian Prisoner No. 1: Alex Calcun, ID No. 466-1571, First Officer in Intelligence and Reconnaissance, 92-154 Division

From Grozny, Chechnya, 23 November 1999.

Transcripts of video-filmed interviews with captured Russian soldiers, amongst them officers and amongst them ordinary soldiers. Some of them gave themselves up whilst others were captured. The video of the interviews will be released on this web-site very soon insha-Allah. These prisoners are from different military sections stationed both inside Chechnya and outside it along its borders.

Amongst them are those that work for External Military Intelligence and amongst them are those that work for the Special Air Forces. All of their interviews were carried out by the Mujahideen leadership, amongst them Field Commander Khattab, Commander Abu Zar and Commander Ismail. We have disclosed the Military Number of the prisoner at the start, for credibility of these reports only, so that anyone can independently verify this information.

Question 1: Identify yourself

Answer 1: First Officer in the Russian Military Intelligence. Originally Russian. I was born in Ukraine. My age is 49 years old, married, with one son. I am an assistant to a Corps Commander in Reconnaissance Forces in the 92-154 Brigade. My name is Alex Calcun and my identification number is 466-1571.

Question 2: How were you captured?

Answer 2: I was captured inside the Chechen Republic in the Tereek Province, near to the city of Banibort, by the Chechen Border Patrol. There were three of us who left in three military trucks to the Chechen border. There was our head, who was a Corps Commander, myself and my friend, a First Officer. We were met by a civilian car driven by a Chechen named Abdul-Laeef, one of the agents of the Russian Intelligence. We entered Chechnya and on the way we were stopped by armed Chechens. They questioned us in the Chechen language and as we were unable to reply to them, they took us out of the car and we were placed in captivity.

Question 3: What were the operations or targets that you were tasked with?

Answer 3: Our target was to establish a base in this border town of Banibort in order to get to know the roads and the area in general. We had sub-machine-guns in our cases and handguns fitted with silencers. We had to prepare a reconnaissance position for another group comprising seven men equipped with everything from explosives materials, directional mines and range-finding equipment. Our objective was to distribute mines on the roads used by the Mujahideen and the roads used by the refugee convoys. The reason behind these actions was to instil fear and terror into the people prior to the invasion of the Russian forces. (When asked about the reason behind hitting the refugee convoys, he replied that they would blame the Mujahideen for that. This in turn would create problems between the Mujahideen and the common people, helping the Russian Media to portray the Mujahideen as killers and bandits.) After that we were to return by car, or if we had any problems, to meet up at a rendez-vous point and then to radio for a helicopter to pick us up.

Question 4: Is there a new strategy of the Russian forces in their second war against the Mujahideen after the first war? What are the objectives of the Russian forces in this war?

Answer 4: I do not know but I do know that we have failed so far.

Question 5: What is your opinion on the state of the Russian Army?

Answer 5: The morale of the Russian Army is very low indeed because most of the people know that it is an unjust war and they know what the outcome of this war will be. The majority have seen that the ones worse affected by this war are the children, women, old men and ordinary people. The evidence for this is that hitting refugee convoys is one of our objectives. The politics in Moscow behind this war is not just. It is the Russians who are fighting inside Chechnya, not the Chechens who are fighting inside Russia.

Question 6: What is your opinion about the morale of the Mujahideen in Chechnya?

Answer 6: These people are the ones who will win this war, because they are defending their belief, their religion, their honour and their homeland. As for us, we do not have a cause to fight for.

Question 7: What are the reasons behind this war against the Chechen Republic?

Answer 7: The reasons are clear: the Generals and the politicians are struggling for rank, status and money and they do not see the poor state of the soldiers with their lack of food supplies and in the extreme cold. This war has no meaning to it at all.

Question 8: Who do you think will be victorious or gain the upper hand in this war?

Answer 8: We will leave Chechnya quickly and soon.

Question 9: What do you wish to say to the Russian Government and to the Russian Military Leadership?

Answer 9: To Russia I say that it must end this war before it leads to the disintegration of Russia and solve the problem of Chechnya. Or it must grant independence to Chechnya because the Mujahideen and the Chechen people are well-versed and experienced in warfare and they are intent on fighting to the very end.

3 Nov 1999: Russian Prisoner No. 2: Christov Alexander, 301st Special Air Division

Q. Identify yourself

A. My name is Christov Alexander. I am 19-years old and from the province of Siberia. I joined military service last year and was attached to the 301st Special Air Division.

Q. How were you captured?

A. My unit was given orders to move from Botlikh (Dagestan) to the province of Vedeno in Chechnya. The unit was divided into two groups. Each group included 14 soldiers and two officers, all of whom were traveling in trucks. The plan was to move from two directions through the valley and from the mountain. Each route would be taken by one of the two units. We moved for an entire day and spent one night in Chechnya. On the second day, a jeep that was being used by the Mujahideen approached us at about 10:00 a.m. None of us (Special Air Division troops) saw them (the Mujahideen) coming, even though our commanders had positioned two soldiers as lookouts on a nearby height. (When the jeep approached) The commander gave an order for the unit to conceal itself. And, after a few minutes, the jeep stop and the Mujahideen commenced firing at us. I'm not sure who actually started the shooting. Before we knew it, we were under fire: All of the 14 soldiers in my unit in the valley and the 14 men on the heights were killed, with the exception of myself and one of my colleagues; both of us were captured after having sustained injuries.

Q. What were the operations that you were commissioned with? What orders were you issued?

A. We were ordered to penetrate deep into Chechen territory and to move on foot for about 15 kilometers per day until we joined-up with the other 14-man unit. It was then planned that the two units would reconnoiter the roads and vicinity around Vedeno in order to pinpoint the locations of the Mujahideen.

Q. Are Russian forces using new tactics that differ from those executed during the first Chechen war?

A. The officers of our division informed us that the Russian military would not commit the errors of the first war, and that we would undertake operations employing new tactics. However, I witnessed for myself that there were no new strategies or tactics. The proof of that materialized when all of the men in my unit were either killed or wounded, even though the odds placed 28 of us (from the Special Air Division), and only five of the Mujahideen

Q. How would you describe the morale of the Russian forces?

A. There is no morale amongst all of our troops. Everybody (Russian soldiers) are hoping to desert, or for their conscription terms to expire in hope of returning home. (The situation is aggravated) because of the exceedingly poor treatment we receive from the officers and the mercenaries who are serving alongside the regular army. (For example) we suffer severely from cold and malnutrition. However, when supplies are received, the officers and the mercenaries keep all the stocks for themselves.

Q. How would you describe the morale of the Mujahideen in Chechnya?

A. I don't understand what you mean. But what I can say is that the Chechens are fighting for their land, and we are nothing but strangers who will soon be on their way out (of Chechnya). As for the Mujahideen, I can say that I saw how strong their morale was; after all, a group of only five of them wiped out an entire unit of the Special Air Division. I don't know why we are fighting this war. The average Russian soldier knows nothing about this war, while the Mujahideen know what they are fighting for and why.

Q. What are the reasons for the war against the Republic of Chechnya?

A. I do not know, for after we left our barracks, we were not allowed to listen to radios or to watch television. We know nothing about this war and why it is being fought.

Q. Whom do you expect will win this war?

A. I do not know, but I think this war will end like the first war, and that the Russian government will have to sign an agreement with the Mujahideen in Chechnya.

Q. What would you like to say to the Russian government and military?

A. I want to say that none of the sons of senior politicians or high-ranking military officers are here with us here in the front-lines. What will the Russian government tell the Russian mothers whose sons were killed? What will they tell the wife of an officer who gave birth to a child whose father was killed in battle? They all lied to us. They told us that we were going to Dagestan, but look at us today, we are prisoners in Chechnya. They just gave us a few weapons and pushed us into this failed war.

Q. What have you heard about the Mujahideen?

A. We were told that the Mujahideen tortured prisoners, and that they slit the throats of those whom they captured. We were told that the Mujahideen took pleasure in amputating the ears and noses of the prisoners; that Shamil and Khattab enjoyed killing prisoners, and that it would be better for a solider to commit suicide that to fall prisoner. However, we have seen the Mujahideen as not being like that. Nobody hit or abused us; instead, we were treated

23 Nov 1999: Russian Prisoner No. 3: Zawazan Nikolai Niklabovic, Special Air Division

Q. Identify yourself?

A. Zawazan Nikolai Niklabovic, (a Crucifixer) from the province of Beshkeria. I joined the Special Air Division of the Russian military last year.

Q. How were you captured?

A. I arrived in Dagestan three days ago and immediately joined the Special Air Division units that crossed into Chechnya. (This prisoner recounted the same story as the former prisoner). When we came under fire, my commander ordered me to deploy smoke bombs in order to cover the unit's retreat. I threw the first bomb, but it did not explode. When I tried to throw the second bomb, it exploded in my hand, severing two fingers of my right hand. When we saw the Mujahdieen approach us, we implored them not to kill us, and we surrendered to them, handing over all of our weapons, upon which, the Mujahideen took us to hospital for treatment.

Q. What were the operations that you were commissioned with? What orders were you issued?

A. Same answer as previously stated by prisoner no.2

Q. Are Russian forces using new tactics that differ from those executed during the first Chechen war?

A. There is no new strategy. We saw how aircraft and artillery bombard the Chechen villages, killing and wounding the innocent. I have been a prisoner of the Mujahideen in the town of Vedeno, and have seen how Russian artillery bombards the town, falsely believing that it is destroying Mujahideen positions. For Russia, this war (as in the first war) is one where heavy weapons are used ineffectively from afar.

Q. How would you describe the morale of the Russian forces?

A. Initially, I refused to fight. But I was forced into battle against my will. The officers' main concerns are maintaining position and receiving accolades (medals) The officers do not care about the soldiers and their morale. We do not know what we are fighting for and we have no goals in this war, that is why we also have no morale.

Q. How would you describe the morale of the Mujahideen in Chechnya?

A. The Mujahideen are fearless, and that is because they are fighting for their homeland.

Q. What are the reasons for the war against the Republic of Chechnya?

A. I do not know, but there are elections coming up in Russia, and this war is probably because bureaucrats like the Prime Minister (Putin) and the officers, are vying for power and position in the government.

Q. Whom do you expect will win this war?

A. I think this war will be won by those who live upon this land. The Russian military believes it can defeat the Mujahideen, but it will not succeed.

Q. What would you like to say to the Russian government and military?

A. I call upon the Russian government to stop this failed war. Should a foreign invader attack our country, then we will fight, and we will know what we are fighting for. Oh you officers! stop sending troops (to their deaths) It is not you (the officers) who are dying, it is us, the average soldiers who are dying. If one of you officers were wounded and captured like me, you would have stopped the war. The soldiers don't even know how to use their weapons, look at me, I was injured and had part of my hand severed.

Q. What have you heard about the Mujahideen?

A. Contrary to what our officers told us, the Mujahideen took us immediately (from the battlefield) to the hospital were we received immediate first aid, and then continued our treatment. We eat as the Mujahideen eat…all of what the Russian government says about the Mujahideen is lies.

Go to Top

24 Nov 1999: Russian Prisoner No. 4: Vladimir Bakhomov

Q. Identify yourself

A. My name is Vladimir Bakhomov. I am 24-years old and live near Moscow. I am married and have no children. I am an officer in the Military Intelligence unit of the reconnaissance division.

The officer’s replies to questions posed by the Mujahideen were similar to those of his comrades who were also captured near Vedeno.

Go to Top



24 Nov 1999: Russian Prisoner No. 5: K. Vitaly Yakovlich, 506th Army Division

Q. Identify yourself

A. My name is K. Vitaly Yakovlich. I am from Ptra (close to Moscow) and joined the 506th army division last year.

Q. How were you captured?

A. I surrendered to the Mujahideen along with two of my colleagues; we handed over our weapons and came under the custody of the Mujahideen in the northern Chechen town of Petro Palmisky.

Q. What were the operations that you were commissioned with? What orders were you issued?

A. I was a member of the infantry forces stationed north of Grozny.

Q. Are Russian forces using new tactics that differ from those executed during the first Chechen war?

A. Russian forces are using very conservative tactics in the fight against the Mujahideen. The military planned to move against Mujahideen positions by sending several units simultaneously, every time a unit would take a particular area, it would maintain its position and allow the other units to move forward. Our commanding officer, who is of Chechen origin, informed us that this was the tactic used by Nazi Germany during World War Two. However (this tactic failed) I never saw an armored vehicle move forward.

Q. How would you describe the morale of the Russian forces?

A. The morale of Russian soldiers is exceedingly poor. We are constantly beaten and humiliated by the officers and the Cotatrat (Mercenary units). Food supplies are scarce, and troops often stand sentry 12 hours every day. Many soldiers want to escape, but they fear only two things: First, the fact that military intelligence units pursue deserters, in fact, our officer used to tell us that anyone who disobeys and order would be killed and never asked about ever again. The second thing that worried us was the false impression that the Mujahideen are monsters who torture and kill their prisoners. I now know that the latter point is false.

Q. How would you describe the morale of the Mujahideen in Chechnya?

A. I do not know. But after having lived amongst them (the Mujahideen) for sometime now, I have come to realize that they are fearless and are always ready for battle. We (the Russians) however, are scared because we fear death.

Q. What are the reasons for the war against the Republic of Chechnya?

A. I do not know.

Q. Whom do you expect will win this war?

A. Victory will be for the people of this land, no matter how long Russian troops remain here.

Q. What would you like to say to the Russian government and military?

A. I tell everyone who I can (Russian troops) if you can escape, do not hesitate to do so. The Russian military command is lying to us; they told us we were coming to defend Dagestan, and suddenly we found ourselves in Grozny facing the specter of death.

24 Nov 1999: Russian Prisoner No. 6: Shroiken Dima (Yusuf), Russian Foreign Military Intelligence

NOTE: BY THE MERCY OF ALLAH, THIS PRISONER EMBRACED ISLAM, AND HAS CHANGED HIS NAME TO YUSUF. HE IS AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER AND PROVIDES SUPPORT TO THE MUJAHIDEEN IN MANY OPERATIONS.

Q. Identify yourself

A. My name is Shroiken Dima. I am 27 years old and a resident of the city of Savonova in the outskirts of Moscow. I am unmarried, and was a Christian serving as an officer in Russian Foreign Military Intelligence. Fortunately however, Allah bestowed upon me the mercy of Islam and I have changed my name to Yusuf.

Q. How were you captured?

A. Russian forces sent us, among many others, to gather information about the Mujahideen in Chechnya. We posed as civilians who were coming to work as maintenance men for electrical equipment. I was traveling with a colleague on the train from Moscow to Grozny, with the aim of slipping into the republic and covertly fulfilling my orders. However, upon our arrival to Chechnya, we were searched by Chechen customs guards and asked for proper identification papers. As we did not posses these documents, we were taken into the custody of the Mujahideen.

Q. What were the operations that you were commissioned with? What orders were you issued?

A. To gather information about the Mujahideen bases and to forward any information requested by the Russian military.

Q. Are Russian forces using new tactics that differ from those executed during the first Chechen war?

A. I think the Russian military is trying to imitate the US-led NATO offensive against the Serbs in Kosova. The military is depending on long-range aerial and artillery bombardment of bridges, roads, factories and homes in an effort to pressure the civilian population. The Russian media is not reporting on this (attacks against civilians).

Q. How would you describe the morale of the Russian forces?

A. The morale of Russian soldiers does not exist for it to be described. For an army to have high morale there must be clear objectives and a solid ideology to fight for. What I know is that the fighting is done for the promise of cash (Russian troops sent to the Chechnya are promised US$40 per month instead of the usual US$5 per month, most Russian troops have yet to be paid since the start of the conflict). There is no trust between soldiers and their leadership; Officers do not care about the life of the average soldier, nor do they care to ensure provisions of nutrition and clothing for them. Worst of all, if a soldier (of the Russian army) falls captive, nobody asks about him. The Mujahideen on the other hand care for one another and ask about each other; they are also aware that the situation of the Russian army is precarious.

Q. How would you describe the morale of the Mujahideen in Chechnya?

A. Our morale is very very high, that is because we are fighting for Allah. I have seen all of the Mujahideen eager to be martyred, to be killed for the sake of Allah. Compare this to the Russian military that uses the promise of cash to encourage the troops to fight; even this promise of higher wages is not forthcoming! The goals of the two sides differ tremendously, and the scales favor the Mujahideen. I am confident that we will be victorious, by the will of Allah. (note the change in tone, the brother is now describing the Mujahideen as ‘we’ – Subhan Allah, who brings us out of the darkness and into the light)

Q. What are the reasons for the war against the Republic of Chechnya?

A. I believe the reasons are economic and political.

Q. Whom do you expect will win this war?

A. The end of this war is not near. But I am confident that victory will be on our side, by the will of Allah. The Russian military may bomb, burn and destroy, and their armour might roll into all of the provinces. However, that does not mean that they have won this war, for they will never succeed in destroying the Mujahideen, and they will never subdue the faith of the people, nor will they change their ideology (of the Chechens). After all, the Russians have no ideology whatsoever and those who do not posses something cannot give it to others.

Q. What would you like to say to the Russian government and military?

A. I tell them that no matter what you do in the aim of subduing Islam in the Caucasus, you will fail, sooner or later. The people here will live only by the way of Islam. I ask Allah that the Russian people familiarize themselves with Islam; the Russians do not understand Islam, and are mislead in their knowledge of this religion. As for the Russian government, I call upon it to resign and to leave this land, and all of the Northern Caucasus. I also call upon the Russian military to stop this barbaric war before it is too late for them. I also urge any Russian solider who is capable of thinking clearly to join the Mujahideen or to turn his weapons against the criminals and killers in Russia. If this is not done, the Muslims of the Caucasus will not simply forgive and forget about Russian crimes committed in this land.

Q. What have you heard about the Mujahideen?

A. Russian media reports about the Mujahideen are untrue. All claims that that they are killers, criminals and drug addicts are false. The people (Chechens) are fighting to defend their faith and their homeland.

Q. How and why did you become a Muslim?

A. I used to know nothing about Islam, and there were few ways of learning about the Religion when I was in Russia. However, when I was captured, I was taken to the home of Khattab (commander of the Foreign Mujahideen) where I had the opportunity to read different publications about Islam. I also witnessed how the Mujahideen live their lives for Allah. They always pray, are honest, do not use intoxicants, do not steal and have no problems with each other. This is the complete opposite of the Russian military that is plagued by drunkenness, theft, pillage and numerous other problems. I THANK ALLAH WHO BESTOWED UPON ME THE MERCY OF ISLAM, AND PLEDGE TO FIGHT AGAINST THE RUSSIAN ARMY AND SUPPORT THE MUJAHIDEEN I EVERY POSSIBLE WAY.

NOTE: BROTHER YUSUF IS ONE OF HUNDREDS OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS, WHO FROM THE FIRST YEARS OF THE JIHAD IN AFGHANISTAN HAVE JOINED THE RANKS OF THE MUJAHIDEEN MAY ALLAH ACCEPT HIS ISLAM AND GIVE HIM THE REWARD OF A MUJAHID IN LIFE AND DEATH.

RUSSIANS CAN'T WIN! BECAUSE IT SAYS SO IN QU'RAN!

SURAT 2 AL-BAQARAH, VERSE 73:

SO WE (ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE MOST MERCIFUL) SAID: "STRIKE HIM (THE DEAD MAN [CHECHEN MUJAHIDEEN]) WITH A PIECE OF IT (THE COW)." THUS ALLAH BRINGS THE DEAD TO LIFE AND SHOWS YOU HIS AYAT (PROOFS, EVIDENCES, VERSES, LESSONS, SIGNS, REVELATIONS, ETC.) SO THAT YOU MAY UNDERSTAND.

CHECHEN MUJAHIDEEN WILL NOT LOSE AS LONG AS THEY HAVE ENOUGH COWS IN GROZNY!

ALLAHU AKHBAR!