Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 12, 1994 TAG: 9412140027
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
Russian television reported that up to 40,000 heavily armed troops and tanks entered Chechnya in one of the most serious military mobilizations since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Media reports indicated that hundreds of Chechens tried to flee the area in cars or on foot.
The tank convoy also included sound trucks with loudspeakers that were used to implore citizens to lay down their arms without a fight. But many Chechens - as residents of the remote area in the northern Caucasus region are known - said they would fight to rid the enclave of Russian ``invaders.''
Yeltsin, who was hospitalized for minor nose surgery when the attack started, released a statement saying that the military action was needed to ``restore order and protect Russian lives.''
Top government aides said they still wanted peace talks to continue to find a negotiated solution to the crisis, which had escalated in recent weeks when Russian soldiers inside Chechnya were seized as hostages.
There was little initial resistance Sunday to the Russian onslaught, which stopped outside the snowy city of Grozny, the headquarters of the separatist movement led by Dzhokhar Dudayev. Dudayev is a renegade former Soviet air force general who unilaterally in 1991 declared Chechnya's independence from Russia.
Russia's leaders have steadfastly claimed that Chechnya - with its oil reserves, oil refineries and vital railroads - is part of Russia. Yeltsin's government has backed rebels who are trying to overthrow Dudayev and end the independence movement.
Other governments have refused to recognize Chechnya as an independent nation.
Russian government officials denied Sunday night that a full-scale attack on Grozny was imminent, but Russian journalists inside the city reported hearing Russian planes bomb several sections of the city. Their reports were disputed by the government.
Yeltsin's decision to use Russia's formidable military might to try to quell a disturbance on Russian territory was sharply criticized Sunday by democracy forces. These forces have gradually become disillusioned with the embattled Russian leader, who has sided with the military in recent months.
``Russian democracy will not survive this operation,'' said Yegor Gaidar, a congressman who leads Russia's Choice, an influential group that strongly backed Yeltsin in the past. ``We will have to live in a police state after this. Democracy is not lawlessness.''
Congressional opponents of the action led a small protest at Pushkin Square in Moscow on Sunday afternoon and vowed to return today in a bid to force Yeltsin to change course.
The demonstrators warned that Yeltsin might drag Russia into an unwanted, extended conflict like the ruinous war in Afghanistan.
Television news reports were filled with angry comments from ordinary Russians who said they did not want their sons dragged off to fight another war with murky objectives.
``It might lead to a new, general war in the region,'' said Grigory Yavlinsky, a congressman who was protesting in Pushkin Square. ``We do not want to see our children killed. If we say today we can only solve this Chechnya problem with the use of tanks, then tomorrow other issues inside Moscow will be solved with tanks.''
by CNB