Settlement in Chechnya nowhere in sight

MOSCOW -- Seven years after Russian troops entered Chechnya to end the republic's independence drive, the Kremlin is still fighting to bring the region to heel, the rebels battle on -- and the general suffering is intense.

Rarely does a day go by without violence in the small Caucasus Mountain republic: a firefight between Russian troops and rebels, a mine exploding, or a roundup of Chechen males.

Senior Russian officials say the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States have led to greater understanding for the fight against Chechen rebels. The Kremlin calls them terrorists and claims the separatists receive support from outside forces, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

Western criticism of how the Kremlin is waging war in Chechnya has subsided in recent months, and Russian officials appear heartened after enduring years of often withering disapproval.

"The situation has changed and is going better," Sergei Yastrzhembsky, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman for Chechnya, told reporters at the launching last week of a Kremlin-backed Web site on Chechnya that aims to rival an existing rebel site.

Yastrzhembsky said U.S. recognition that al-Qaida had been active in Chechnya was "a good service" for Russia.

Russian troops entered Chechnya, a mainly Muslim region a bit smaller than New Jersey, in December 1994, hoping to put a quick end to the republic's quest for independence. The Russians left in defeat and disgrace 20 months later, giving Chechnya virtual independence.

Chechnya descended into lawlessness and the Russian military returned in September 1999 following Chechnya-based rebels' incursion into neighboring Dagestan and a series of apartment bombings blamed on rebels in which some 300 people were killed.

This time Russian forces are determined to stay. They insist Chechnya will never become independent and they want to flush out foreign fighters.

Denied bin Laden link

Chechen rebels do not deny they had contacts with the Taliban, the former Afghan regime that recognized Chechnya's independence in 2000. Some observers have also speculated that bin Laden could try to seek refuge in Chechnya, but Yastrzhembsky just laughed when asked about that possibility.

Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a former president of Chechnya, denied this week that bin Laden, accused by the United States of masterminding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, funded the Chechen rebels.

"What we have are donations from Muslims who collected crumbs for us in the name of Allah," the Interfax news agency quoted Yandarbiyev as saying. "Bin Laden has not had links with the Chechens."