[War] Special Report: "Armed Outbreak in Russia"

[Michael Downey]

Armed Outbreak in Russia

17 March 2014, Reuters

*[Large insurrection against Federation troops stationed in Chechnya and
Russian and EU peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia and South Ossetia leaves
Caucasus in turmoil.] *

The relative calm that has prevailed over the Russian province of Chechnya
was violently shattered today as bands of armed militias launched surprise
attacks against Russian Army and local security forces in the often-chaotic
region. Multiple explosions, suspected to be car bombs and mortar fire,
rocked the capital of Grozny as militants stormed the city to engage in a
fierce firefight with Russian troops.

At the same time there were also attacks made against Army outposts and
police stations in several other locations throughout Chechnya. While the
Russian military is typically very secretive and has often tried to keep
foreign reporters out of Chechnya, recent relaxations in the former policy
has allowed Reuters to put the death toll around one thousand dead, mostly
Russian soldiers. These attacks come as a serious blow to the Kremlin which
has been enjoying relative calm in Chechnya for the past three years.

Meanwhile in the South Caucasus, more fighting has broken out in the two
breakaway Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Having endured a
similar situation as Chechnya since the dissolution of the Soviet Union,
recent attempts by Russia and the European Union to impose peace on the two
regions especially Abkhazia and make all three sides negotiate their future
have been hurt by more fighting. A rash of car bombs and sniper attacks have
left dozens of EU and Russian peacekeepers dead as well as scores of
civilian bystanders. Worse still, Georgia is reporting that Abkhazian rebels
have launched attacks across the border at a Georgian Army training camp.
Five people have been reported killed, including one US Army officer sent as
part of a training contingent in keeping with the American alliance with
Georgia.

All these events have been a massive setback for Russia and its partners to
bring a permanent calm to the often unstable Caucasus. Still in Vladivostok
after the recent six party talks over the current crises on the Korean
Peninsula, President Nemerenko has vowed to dispatch more Russian
'peacekeepers' to Chechnya and the breakaway Georgian republics to restore
order.
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