ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010058
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
Security tight in Russia for May Day
MOSCOW - President Boris Yeltsin ordered tough measures Tuesday to prevent Chechen rebel attacks, reflecting government fears that separatists might try to avenge the slaying of their leader, Dzhokhar Dudayev.
Yeltsin's press secretary, Sergei Medvedev, said the president and heads of the security ministries fear Chechen attacks during the upcoming May holidays, beginning today with May Day celebrations.
Russian officials often sound the alarm about potential attacks before holidays, even though the Chechens have never carried any out.
This time, however, Russian officials fear the separatists might try to avenge Dudayev's death, reportedly in an April 21 Russian missile strike, Medvedev said.
Yeltsin ordered security officials to take strict action to ensure order across Russia, Medvedev said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. It didn't specify what that action would be.
At least in part, the holiday alarm appeared to be linked to the widespread confusion in Russia over who is in control in the rebel camp.
Separatist officials issued a flood of new denials Tuesday that Dudayev's successor had been killed and criticized the Russian media for reporting the rumors.
The ITAR-Tass news agency reported Monday that Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev had been killed, quoting pro-Moscow officials in the breakaway republic.
Although he has not surfaced publicly, there was no confirmation of the report Tuesday. |- Associated Press
Iran leads the world in terrorist activities
Iran is the ``premier state sponsor of international terrorism,'' the U.S. State Department said Tuesday, citing as proof Iran's alleged support for radical groups from North Africa to Central Asia.
The department said in its annual report on international terrorism that seven Iranian murders of dissidents were confirmed last year, up from four in 1994.
The report, covering terrorist activities around the world in 1995, follows a recent upsurge in Iranian weapon shipments through Syria to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
The rebels used the weaponry to attack targets in Northern Israel that prompted counterattacks by Israeli forces and 16 days of cross-border mortar and rocket exchanges.
The study lists Iran, Syria and five other countries - Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Sudan - as sponsors of international terrorism. The list is unchanged from the report issued a year ago.
On a positive note, the study said the number of fatalities from international terror around the world declined from 314 in 1994 to 165 in 1995.
- Associated Press
Briefly ...
Britain failed Tuesday to get the European Union to lift a global ban on British beef exports, but EU agriculture ministers said they hoped talks would lead to a progressive easing of restrictions.
Lawmakers negotiating South Africa's new constitution bargained into the night Tuesday, trying to agree on stubborn issues unresolved since the apartheid era.
In a decision hailed by human rights activists, a judge Tuesday sentenced a Rio de Janeiro state trooper to 309 years in prison for the murders of six street children.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB