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Chechen Mujahideen Slay 70 Russian Soldiers
by Henry Meyer
MOSCOW, April 7 (AFP) - Moscow vowed mulishly on Friday to pursue its offensive in Chechnya after the Council of Europe slapped sanctions on it for the brutal Russian crackdown to try and force the Muslim republic into subjugation.
"This decision will complicate dialogue but Russia will firmly pursue its policy of eradicating terrorism and re-establishing the rule of law and human rights in Chechnya," said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.
But as he spoke Mujahideen announced they inflicted another heavy blow on Russian forces, as Chechen sources said some 70 Russian soldiers had been killed in a recent ambush near the capital Grozny.
The assault took place near the village of Mesker-Yurt, 15 kilometres (9 miles) southeast of Grozny, the sources said. On Wednesday a Russian column was attacked there, but Moscow claimed only one soldier had died and five were wounded.
Both sides in the war regularly issue contradictory casualty tolls, anxious to play down their own losses and exaggerate those of their opponents'.
The attack destroyed two armored vehicles, two army trucks and a jeep, the Muslim sources said.
The six-month war has appeared to slow after Russian forces claimed Grozny in February and forced the mujahideen to run for cover in the snow-swept southern mountains.
The Chechen fighters have staged a series of deadly ambushes in recent weeks, stepping up their campaign as the spring bloom provides them with the natural cover that helped them win the 1994-96 war.
Russia has confirmed it lost at least 43 soldiers in an attack in the Vedeno district last week.
Russian military sources said that they have observed heightened activity by mujahideen, mainly regrouped in the southeastern highlands, and believe they are planning further attacks and terrorist strikes.
In other zones under Russian control, such as Sernovodsk and Samashki in the west, there has been a sudden increase in the male population according to the same sources, who said they suspected fighters had infiltrated the region.
As the resistance stiffens, Moscow's top official in the republic said Russia plans to maintain direct rule in war-torn Chechnya for at least two years, if not longer.
Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Koshman said after a meeting with President-elect Vladimir Putin that there would be no elections for a president to lead Chechnya until "after 2001, or even later," Interfax reported.
Putin in his successful presidential campaign had floated the idea of implementing Kremlin rule over Chechnya for the number of years it would take to destroy the last of the Chechen resistance.
Meanwhile Moscow slapped a ban on delegations from the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly to Chechnya after it voted Thursday in Strasbourg to move towards Russia's suspension from the 41-nation rights and democracy body.
The unprecedented move met with anger and disbelief in Moscow, with Ivanov charging that the vote was fuelled by "stereotypes from the Cold War" and accusing the European lawmakers of "double standards."
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