From: MSN Nicknamepsychoteddybear24 (Original Message) Sent: 11/16/2006 5:19 PM
RUSSIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY ADMITS CHECHEN RESISTANCE STILL POSES
'SERIOUS THREAT.' Following the deaths of Chechen Republic
Ichkeria President Abdul-Khalim Sadullayev and veteran field
commander Shamil Basayev on June 16 and July 10, respectively,
Russian and pro-Moscow Chechen officials pronounced the Chechen
resistance a spent force, numbering no more than a few dozen die-hard
fighters. But more recent assessments indicate that the Chechen
resistance numbers at least 700 men and still poses a "serious
threat."
Russian assessments of the strength of the Chechen resistance
have historically been approximate and contradictory, appearing
sometimes to have been exaggerated or downplayed for purely political
considerations.
The Russian daily "Kommersant," for example, on November 7
listed 14 separate estimates made between February 2000 and November
2006.
In August 2005, Taus Dzhabrailov, then-chairman of the
pro-Kremlin Chechen State Council, gave the number of fighters as
"somewhere between 800-1,000." One month later, presidential envoy to
Russia's Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak said the number
had recently increased to "around ...
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