MOSCOW EQUATES CHECHEN REBELS WITH THE IRA.

A member of the Russian Presidential Council declared yesterday that recent developments in Chechnya and the February 9 London bombing by the IRA compelled the world community to rally against terrorism. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, while not explicitly linking the two acts, responded to the bombing by saying that "terrorism deserves condemnation in any of its forms… This is the principle position of Russia and the entire world community." (11) Particularly since the bloody confrontation between Russian troops and Chechen rebels at Pervomaiskoye in mid-January, Moscow has attempted to label Chechen rebels as international terrorists and to legitimize Russian military operations against them as part of the world community’s battle against terrorism.

Over the past 25 years some 3,200 lives have been lost in the battle between the IRA and British authorities. In the roughly fourteen months that the war in Chechnya has raged, at least 20,000-30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed and untold thousands left homeless.

Baltic Nations Hold First Joint Military Exercise.