WOMEN CHARGED IN PYATIGORSK RAILWAY BOMBING MOVED TO VOLOGDA.

Aiset Dadasheva and Fatima Taimaskhanova, who were sentenced to long jail terms for the bombing of the railway station in Pyatigorsk, have been moved from Stavropol to Vologda (Kommersant daily, February 24). The authorities in Moscow took the step after rebel Chechen field commander Salman Raduev threatened “to recapture, at any price, these innocent daughters of Chechnya from false Russian justice.”

The Chechen opposition believes that the case against Dadasheva and Taimaskhanova was falsified and has created a special committee to plan their liberation. Salman Raduev, in particular, has declared that if the two women are not freed, he will use bacteriological weapons against Russian territory. Rebel field commander Shamil Basaev and former Chechen Vice President Vakha Arsanov have also threatened to use force against Moscow (Segodnya, February 18). After the two accused terrorists were moved to Vologda Oblast, authorities in that region took special measures to guard strategic objects (Kommersant daily, February 24).

UKRAINE ADDING TRANSIT CAPACITY FOR RUSSIAN GAS.