REBEL RESISTANCE CONCENTRATED NEAR CAPITAL.

On October 25, Colonel General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, commander of the internal troops of the Russian Ministry of the Interior, told Interfax that presently the largest centers of resistance of the Chechen separatists are in Vedeno, Nozhai-Yurt, and Kurchaloi districts, and also in the Chechen capital and in Groznensky Village District. “In Chechnya,” Tikhomirov related, “we have now ceased conducting large-scale military operations with the use of heavy artillery and aviation support. We are only conducting targeted operations in population points in order to take rebels into custody.”

An item appearing on the October 26 Grani.ru web-site noted: “A source in the Ministry of Defense reports that in that military agency they relate ‘extremely negatively’ to the prospect of sitting down to negotiations with the Chechen rebels. In the General Staff, a plan for the winter campaign has already been elaborated under which the leading role is assigned to [military] aviation and heavy artillery. As is well known, the [advent of] snow always awakens a hunter’s zeal in the federal forces.”