CHECHNYA AND THE CAUCASUS….

Russia continues to build the case for expanding the war into independent Georgia, which until 1991 had been part of the Soviet Union. On November 22, Prime Minister Putin claimed that Chechen guerrillas and other “international terrorists” freely cross Chechnya’s border with Georgia in both directions. On November 23, the Russian military command in the North Caucasus charged that Chechen kidnappers are holding Gennady Shpigun, a Russian Interior Ministry general abducted in Chechnya last March, in Georgia. Two shipments to Georgia’s Defense Ministry–one of weapons samples from a trade show in Romania, one of uniforms provided by the U.S. Department of Defense–were intercepted at a Moscow airport, when Russian authorities claimed they were destined for Chechen guerrillas. Russian authorities also accuse Georgia of harboring a Chechen communications facility and military hospital.