AUTHORITIES CONFIRM THE DEATHS OF POLICE COMMANDOS.

Russian forces and separatist rebels continue to fight it out in the Vedeno and Nozhai-Yurt regions of Chechnya. According to Yuri Balyuevski, deputy head of the Russian armed forces’ general staff, the rebels’ main bases are located in these regions. Balyuevski also said that the federal forces are now concentrating on search-reconnaissance operations. Meanwhile the Russian Interior and Defense ministries yesterday officially confirmed that 32 members of a unit of special police commandos from the Perm region died in an ambush near the village of Dzhani-Vedeno. Defense Minister Igor Sergeev said that an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the ambush would be carried out. Sergeev said that one of the reasons for the tragedy was insufficient “command discipline” on the part of “certain officials” (Russian agencies, March 31, April 1).

Meanwhile, a corpse recently discovered in southern Chechnya is, according to unconfirmed reports, that of Gennady Shpigun, the deputy Russian interior minister who was taken hostage a year ago at an airport in the Chechen capital. According to one theory, Shpigun managed to escape from his captors, but froze to death in the woods. The Russian authorities, however, are not yet sure that the remains were in fact Shpigun’s. The body has been sent to Rostov-on-Don for forensic testing to establish its identity (Russian agencies, March 30-31).

FOREIGN STATEMEN SHOW SUPPORT FOR SHEVARDNADZE.