RUSSIA: RUSSIA/CHECHNYA CONFLICT LATEST (4)

Russian/Nat

The Chechen President, Aslan Maskhadov, has convened a national congress and accused Russia of using raids into Dagestan as a pretext to start a war with Chechnya.

A village in Chechnya suspected of harbouring Chechen guerrillas has been occupied by Russian forces, while Russian warplanes continue to bomb suspected rebel bases in the breakaway republic.

In Grozny on Saturday, the Chechen Defence Minister denied there were any terrorists in Chechnya.

As Russian troops overrun border villages in Chechnya, its president, Aslan Maskhadov, is trying to bring together different factions within his country.

At a mosque in Grozny on Saturday, he talked to residents who have stayed in the city despite the repeated bombing raids on the Chechen capital this week.

The situation is increasingly tense and Maskhadov's authority is under pressure.

On Friday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met members of the region's former pro-Moscow parliament and said he regarded them as its sole legitimate body, although they haven't met for three years.

But reports that the Russians are setting up a security zone to prevent infiltration of Islamic rebels provoked an angry response from Chechnya's defence minister.

Moscow blames the Islamic rebels for a recent incursion into Dagestan and a series of bomb blasts in the Russian capital which have killed nearly 300 people.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"Today, Russia wants to fight against the people, not the terrorists. The terrorists were there, in Dagestan, and they are still there, with few exceptions. They are still there in Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi. Russian authorities had known they were terrorists, but Yeltsin and Stepashin legalised them. They were described as legitimate, pure Muslims, not terrorists. Let them fight them over there. There are no terrorists here.
SUPER CAPTION: Magomet Khanbiyev, Chechen Defence Minister

But Khanbiyev said although he was against another war with Russia, he wouldn't stand back and let his country be invaded.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"If Russia wants war, it will get it. I don't want that to happen."
SUPER CAPTION: Magomet Khanbiyev, Chechen Defence Minister

Following a meeting of Chechnya's key ministers the day before, Maskhadov decided to convene a national congress on Saturday.

He was expected to call on all military field commanders and political leaders to obey his authority.

Maskhadov's government is weak and unable to control local war lords who have launched attacks on Russian territory.

The war lords have also threatened to depose Maskhadov, who favours a political settlement with Moscow.

Air raids and artillery attacks across Chechnya have sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing to neighbouring regions, which have few facilities to take care of them.

The refugees have mainly fled to into Ingushetia, which is populated by the Chechens' ethnic kin.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry says 88-thousand people have fled to the neighbouring region of Ingushetia, where a tent city has been set up on the border.

U-N and Russian humanitarian aid has already begun arriving at the refugee camps.

The Interfax news agency quoted Ingush leader Ruslan Aushev as saying 10-thousand new refugees had arrived in the region in the past 24 hours.
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