RUSSIA/ CHECHNYA: FIGHTING BETWEEN CHECHEN REBELS AND RUSSIAN TROOPS MARS ELECTIONS

Record ID: 376011

  • Title: RUSSIA/ CHECHNYA: FIGHTING BETWEEN CHECHEN REBELS AND RUSSIAN TROOPS MARS ELECTIONS
  • Date: 16th December 1995
  • Summary: GROZNY AND URUS-MARTAN, CHECHNYA, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 16, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) GROZNY 1. GV EXT. BOMBED PRESIDENTIAL PALACE 0.04 2. LV STREET SCENE 0.13 3. SLV RUSSIAN SOLDIERS IN STREET 0.16 4. GV EXTERIOR HOSPITAL 0.21 5. GV/SLV RUSSIAN SOLDIERS ON TANK OUTSIDE HOSPITAL (3 SHOTS) 0.30 6. SLV/VARIOUS TRANSLATOR NANA KIKNADZE AND NEW YORK TIMES AND NEWSWEEK CORRESPONDENT STEVE LEVINE LIE ON BEDS IN HOSPITAL WITH BANDAGED LEGS (4 SHOTS) 1.08 URUS-MARTAN, NEAR GROZNY 7. GV/SV EXT. INSTITUTE HELD BY CHECHEN FIGHTERS (4 SHOTS) 1.24 8. SVB REBEL CHECHEN FIGHTER ISA KHADZHIEV SAYING THE ELECTIONS ARE ILLEGITIMATE (RUSSIAN) 1.42 9. SV ARMED REBEL CHECHEN FIGHTERS IN CORRIDOR 1.46 10. GV/SV REBEL CHECHEN FIGHTERS IN STREET (3 SHOTS) 1.57 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 31st December 1995 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GROZNY AND URUS-MARTAN, CHECHNYA, RUSSIA
  • City:
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA2KI0DE6AL83HKMXGKX6DOG4VL
  • Story Text: Fighting between Russian troops and Chechen rebels overshadowed voting in Chechnya for deputies to the Russian parliament and for a regional leader on Saturday (December 16).

    Rebels seeking independence for Chechnya and opposed to Russia's efforts to stage national and local elections there launched attacks on Russian soldiers in the Chechen capital Grozny as fighting continued for a second day on Sunday (December 17) in Chechnya's second city, Gudermes.

    About 100 Chechen rebels held parts of the village of Urus-Martan, 20 km (13 miles) southwest of Grozny, but there was no violence there.

    One of the fighters told Reuters his unit came to Urus-Martan to stop a Moscow-imposed election.

    "These elections are illegitimate...This is just a show. They have them just to give an appearence that the polls took place," rebel commander Isa Khadzhiev said.

    A correspondent for the New York Times and Newsweek, Steve Levine and his Georgian assistant, translator Nana Kiknadze, received leg injuries when a rocket-propelled anti-tank grenade exploded near them outside Urus-Martan. They were treated in hospital in Grozny.

    The two were injured when a separatist Chechen fighter manning a roadblock near Urus-Martan detonated the device, apparently after an altercation with a Chechen motorist he was questioning.

    Itar-Tass news agency quoted Vladimir Zorin, deputy head of the regional administration as saying 48 percent of voters in Chechnya had cast their ballots.

    Voting in Chechnya began on Thursday and was to continue until Sunday (December 17). The rest of Russia was to vote on Sunday.

    Ruslan Khasbulatov, a former Russian parliamentary speaker and the only serious challenger to the Moscow-appointed Chechen leader, Doku Zavgayev, pulled out of the local election, calling the vote a fraud and describing Zavgayev as a puppet.


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