RUSSIAN FORCES TAKE KEY CHECHEN TOWNS; DUDAYEV PLEDGES TO FIGHT ON.

Russian forces took Shatoi and Nozhai-Yurt June 13 after heavy fighting, leaving the Chechens in complete control of only one regional center, Bamut, Itar-Tass reported. Russian commanders and political commentators suggested that these victories had split the Chechen forces and presaged an early end to the fighting. But in a statement to the Russian news agency June 14, Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev pledged to fight on. “The fight is not over. It is just taking new forms,” he said. Earlier, Dudayev had told Moscow’s Ekho radio that he would never negotiate with Moscow where, he said, “fascism is running rampant.” Interfax reported June 13 that the Chechens were planning to launch terrorist acts in Grozny June 15 in order to provoke a Russian response, and Russian radio reported that Chechen forces had blown up a rail line near the Daghestan border June 10. Russian radio also said June 12 that despite the recent reverses, at least half of all Chechens were still prepared to support Dudayev’s forces.

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