A senior Russian military officer confirmed yesterday that forces had rolled into Chechnya, where local leaders vowed to repel the "invaders."
The armed forces' first deputy chief of staff, Colonel-General Valeri Manilov, said in televised remarks that in some areas Russian troops had already crossed the border, but denied Moscow had any immediate plans for a full-scale ground assault.
"Federal troops have crossed into Chechnya from several meters to a few kilometers," Manilov said.
PHOTO: AP
"In some areas along the Chechen border minor clashes are taking place," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying separately. "But there is no large-scale operation under way and no plans for it."
In Grozny, Chechen leaders were preparing for war.
President Aslan Maskhadov prayed at a mosque outside the capital in battle fatigues, flanked by armed bodyguards.
"We will all be as one, let us all fight together. We will drive out the bandits and destroy the invaders," he told a small congregation of worshippers.
"We did not ask for any war. Let us pray for peace."
Chechen Security Minister Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev said outside the mosque: "The enemy has violated the peace treaty and is moving into deeper Chechnya. There have been battles and casualties."
He said Russian forces had crossed the border on Friday and yesterday in the Nadterechni district of northern Chechnya, and the Shchyolkovsi and Nozhai Yurt districts in the east.
Fighting in the east had taken place near the villages of Kirov, Severnoye and Sovietskaya Rossiya. Russian troops had neared the villages of Shestoi Sovkhoz and Kargalinovskoye and were five kilometers into the Nozhai Yurt district, he said.
Interfax and ITAR-TASS news agencies said Russian troops had seized the village of Borozdinovka in the east. Interfax quoted Chechen officials as saying Russian forces had swept as far as 15km into sparsely populated flatlands in the north.
Meanwhile, Russian planes carried out more air raids on targets in Chechnya, prompting a fresh exodus of refugees.
A Reuters television cameraman in North Ossetia, a Russian region to the West, saw columns of Russian armored vehicles rumbling toward the border.
Top Russian officials have said troops may enter Chechen territory to set up a "sanitary zone" to prevent infiltration of Islamic rebels, whom Moscow blames for a recent incursion in Dagestan and a series of bomb blasts in which nearly 300 died.
They say Russia has a right to send troops across the border at any time, but Chechens say that violates the peace deal that ended the 1994-96 war, when Moscow pledged to withdraw.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS