Blast in Chechnya increases tension

Blast in Chechnya increases tension

MOSCOW (Reuter): Saboteurs blew up a gas pipeline in Chechnya
yesterday, triggering a fierce fire and increasing tension on the
eve of solemn commemorations marking the World War II mass
deportation of the Chechen people.

Pro-Moscow Chechen officials blamed the early morning attack,
the second on an energy installation in Chechnya in two days, on
rebels loyal to separatist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev.

There was no immediate word from the guerrillas themselves to
substantiate this.

"These are links in a single chain of provocations by
Dudayev's men who are striving to destabilize the situation in
the republic," Abdul Bugayev, first deputy prime minister in the
pro-Moscow regional government, told Itar-Tass news agency.

The pipeline attack near Sholkovskaya, close to Chechnya's
border with the Dagestan region, occurred after a week of heavy
fighting in the east of the territory.

Russian troops said on Wednesday they had crushed a large
concentration of rebels in fighting for the eastern village of
Novogroznensky.

The incident fuelled tension in the Moslem territory on the
eve of today's Chechen day of mourning to mark the 52nd
anniversary of the mass deportation of Chechens to Kazakhstan by
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1944.

The Chechen interior ministry said it had put 4,000 men on
alert for today and had reinforced checks at road-blocks in and
around the regional capital Grozny.

Doku Zavgayev, the pro-Moscow Chechen leader, appealed to
people to observe calm today and stay away from mass meetings
which he said could lead to a "sharpening of the situation."

Tass said rebels kept up attacks on Russian troops near
Novogroznensky, some 60 kilometers east of Grozny, despite
earlier claims by Defense Minister Pavel Grachev that their
forces had been crushed.

It reported particularly intensive fire by guerrillas on
Russian positions near the locality of Tsentoroy and said six
Russian soldiers were killed there and eight wounded in the 48
hours up to noon yesterday.

In Moscow, President Boris Yeltsin put the finishing touches
to a state of the nation speech to be delivered today in which he
was expected to touch on prospects of ending the conflict in
Chechnya in which thousands have been killed.

Yeltsin, who sent troops into the mountainous territory in
December 1994 to crush a drive for independence and has since
admitted the move may have been a mistake, badly needs a peace
deal to help his chances of re-election next June.

Tass said the explosion on the gas pipeline, which occurred at
5 a.m. (0200 GMT), triggered a fierce fire. The pipeline was shut
down and the flow of gas coming into Chechnya from Stavropol in
Russia switched off, it said.

The new attack followed an armed attack on Wednesday on an oil
refinery in which one oil tank with 3,000 tons of fuel was said
to have been set ablaze.

It seemed likely to increase jitters among Western oil
companies who are involved in an US$8 billion international
consortium that will begin transporting Azeri oil from the
Caspian Sea via a Russian pipeline across Chechnya next year.

The Russian link, which goes to the Black Sea port of
Novorossiisk, is part of a dual-route option chosen by the
consortium last year. The other link goes to the Georgian port of
Batumi.