BUDENNOVSK OPERATION CAREFULLY PLANNED, RUSSIANS SAY.

DespiteShamil Basayev’s assertions this week that his Chechen raidersmoved into Budennovsk because they were unable to bribe theirway further north toward Moscow, Russian officials now claim thatthe entire raid had been carefully planned. Moskovskie novosti(no. 44) and Segodnya on June 29 reported claims byinterior ministry officials–who are under fire for allowing theraid and hostage-taking to occur–that Basayev had carefully navigatedhis units through back roads where officials seldom check documents.Moreover, the interior ministry officials said, Basayev’s menknew just what to do and where to go when they got to Budennovsk,a claim very much at odds with earlier Russian statements thatthe raid was as improvised as Basayev has said.

And Turkey Really Did Plan to Give Dudayev Asylum.