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Saturday, December 4,1999
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Russia Planning To Attack Grozny Before Ramadan
DUBAI, Dec 3 (AFP) - The Russian offensive against the Chechen capital, Grozny, will take place before the month of Ramadan, which begins around December 9, ITAR-TASS chief Viktor Lebedyev said Friday.
"I'm certain that the Russian government will respect the holy month of Ramadan. I think that the offensive against Grozny will occur soon," the Russian news agency director told the Qatari satellite television station Al-Jazira, speaking in Arabic.
"The capture of the strategic town of Argun is a prelude to taking Grozny," which is 8 km (five miles) away, he said.
Outgunned Chechen mujahedin were forced to make a tactical retreat from Argun Friday, allowing advancing Russian forces to tighten their grip on embattled Grozny.
"Argun represents the key to Grozny," said Col. Yury Em, the Russian commander on the Argun front, ITAR-TASS reported from Grozny.
"Russian losses are greater now than at the beginning of the campaign against Chechnya," said Lebedyev, adding that "the number of Russian victims will certainly rise during the offensive against Grozny."
Russia claims it lost 35 to 50 soldiers Thursday in the battle for Argun, with 100 injured, the well-connected Russian military news agency AVN reported. That would make it the biggest single-day loss recorded by federal troops since they rolled into Muslim Chechnya October 1.
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