RUSSIA: CHECHNYA: PARTISAN BRIGADES

Описание: (7 Apr 1995) Natural Sound

The head of Russia's intelligence agency has declared that the war in Chechnya is nearly over.

Sergei Stepashin says forces loyal to Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev have ' ceased to exist'.

Ahead of May's VE celebrations in Moscow , Russia is keen to allay western concern over bloodshed in the rebel republic.

But in the southern hills of Chechnya partisan brigades are digging in for a long war of attrition against Russian troops.

It is territory they know well, the mountainous southern region of Chechnya is historically the backbone of resistance to Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the last century.

The sound of jet fighters regularly breaks the woodland silence as reconnaissance flights scour the countryside for Chechen rebel strongholds.

Travelling light, the fighters live off the land eating berries or dried meat.

These fighters are from Shali, the last of Chechnya's major towns to fall to the Russians.

The sound of the last artillery exchanges can be heard all around.

New dugouts are being made each day in a network spanning the region.

Two Russian conscript prisoners of war were evacuated from Shali along with the rebels.

In the evening, the men clean their weapons while the women accompanying the brigade clean up.

Tight Russian security around the towns has meant that weapons supplies to the rebels have dried up, this homemade bazooka is made from a steel drainpipe.

The dugouts are well camouflaged against air attack.

Contact with other partisans in the regions is maintained by walkie-talkie units.

Plans for the next day are discussed by lamplight late into the night.

Leaving the camp at dawn the partisans move off in scouting parties using footpaths they know from childhood.

They are determined to remain a thorn in the side of the Russian Army long after foreign dignitaries attending May's VE celebrations in Moscow are forgotten.

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