Guerrillas Russia

Clad in fatigues and a beret, the Chechen commander laughs, kicks one prostrate Russian soldier, waves a pistol in the air, then steps up to a kneeling soldier and shoots him in the head. Salautdin Temirbulatov, 41, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison Thursday on evidence created by his own men: an April 1996 videotape of him executing the soldier, Sergei Mitryayev.

The Russian intelligence service says it's true--but no one else seems to be buying it just yet. Even President Vladimir V. Putin sounded dubious Thursday about claims that one of Moscow's most hated enemies had been killed in Chechnya. Islamic guerrilla leader Khattab is to Russians roughly what Osama bin Laden and the Taliban's Mullah Mohammed Omar have become to Americans: a sworn, ruthless nemesis who always seems maddeningly just out of reach.

The Russian government declared victory Friday in the first phase of its campaign against rebels in Chechnya, saying that it had seized key portions of the separatist republic and will push this weekend toward the capital, Grozny. "They should expect us anywhere, any time," said Col. Gen. Viktor Kazantsev, commander of Russian forces in the region. "They should suffer constant losses, and that is exactly what's happening."

His disfigured face hidden by sunglasses, a shaggy beard and a peaked cap, Chechen separatist commander Salman Raduyev stood, chin jutting defiantly, after being sentenced in a Russian court Tuesday to life for terrorism and murder. His last words before being led away were "Allahu akbar"--God is great.

As awkwardly as a newborn foal struggling on spindly legs, Lena Meshcheryakova is learning how to curl her lips up at the corners to make a smile. Drifting just beneath the surface of her 5-year-old world are the memories of a darker place: the cellar in Chechnya where she was held prisoner by kidnappers for nine months. When she was freed at age 3, she had forgotten how to smile. She could barely even speak. But she knew how to pray like the devout Muslim Chechen men who had imprisoned her.

Rebels killed seven Russian soldiers and wounded 10 in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, officials said Saturday, after Russian positions came under 25 attacks within a day. In Grozny, the Chechen capital, one soldier was killed and two were injured Friday when their armored personnel carrier hit a land mine, an official with Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration said.

In a dangerous sign that Russia's conflict in the mountainous region of Dagestan has spread to neighboring Chechnya, Russia's Interior Ministry on Saturday confirmed its military bombed a village and exchanged gunfire at a police outpost in the breakaway republic. Russia's massive offensive against a group of Islamic rebels in western Dagestan continued through the night for the first time, and Russian officials claimed to have gained control of several strategic positions.

Russian warplanes and ground troops battered Chechnya's southern mountains Saturday, where thousands of rebels were entrenched, and the Russian military claimed to be strengthening its hold on strategic heights. Since Russian forces claimed control of the breakaway republic's capital, Grozny, after a rebel exodus early this month, the military has increasingly focused on the mountains, where as many as 8,000 rebels are believed to be based among the rugged, snowy slopes.

After weeks of lying low, rebels in Chechnya struck back powerfully against Russian forces, unleashing a deadly series of coordinated truck bombings that killed at least 37 Russian servicemen and shook Russia's confidence that it has regained control of the breakaway republic.

Amid signs that fighting in the Russian republic of Dagestan has spread into neighboring Chechnya, military officials for the first time acknowledged Thursday that they face serious problems in their bid to control a guerrilla rebellion in Dagestan, a troubled southern region. Russian planes continued rocket and bomb attacks in the area of seven Dagestani villages seized by Islamic militants who invaded from nearby Chechnya last weekend.

Russian authorities said Monday that their forces had killed a feared Chechen commander, the most senior rebel to be slain in the more than 20 months since military action resumed in the southern republic. The killing of Arbi Barayev was confirmed by the Chechen side. The Russians claimed that 17 other rebels died in the three-day operation, while the Chechens conceded 20 dead, including several commanders.

Saudi commandos burst through the doors and windows of a hijacked Russian jetliner Friday as it sat on the runway in the city of Medina, freeing more than 100 passengers in a dramatic assault that left three dead: a passenger, flight attendant and teenage terrorist. The two surviving hijackers were dragged from the plane, wrestled to the ground and handcuffed as frightened passengers stampeded down the stairs or climbed out onto the wing, their hands raised over their heads.

Clad in fatigues and a beret, the Chechen commander laughs, kicks one prostrate Russian soldier, waves a pistol in the air, then steps up to a kneeling soldier and shoots him in the head. Salautdin Temirbulatov, 41, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison Thursday on evidence created by his own men: an April 1996 videotape of him executing the soldier, Sergei Mitryayev.

Rebels killed seven Russian soldiers and wounded 10 in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, officials said Saturday, after Russian positions came under 25 attacks within a day. In Grozny, the Chechen capital, one soldier was killed and two were injured Friday when their armored personnel carrier hit a land mine, an official with Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration said.

As awkwardly as a newborn foal struggling on spindly legs, Lena Meshcheryakova is learning how to curl her lips up at the corners to make a smile. Drifting just beneath the surface of her 5-year-old world are the memories of a darker place: the cellar in Chechnya where she was held prisoner by kidnappers for nine months. When she was freed at age 3, she had forgotten how to smile. She could barely even speak. But she knew how to pray like the devout Muslim Chechen men who had imprisoned her.

Four Russian soldiers were killed when rebel fighters ambushed a military unit in central Chechnya in the second attack on a convoy in two days, an official said Saturday. The convoy was fired upon Friday while moving through the Vedeno Gorge, a region that has seen heavy rebel activity since the start of the war in the separatist republic, according to an official with the pro-Russian civilian government in Chechnya.

Chechen fighters fiercely resisted attempts by Russian forces to take a strategic square in the rebel capital, Grozny, on Tuesday, attacking from the front and the rear to stymie the Russians' drive. Russian troops returning to Gudermes from Grozny said federal forces were still at least 400 yards from Minutka Square, which has been under siege for several days.

Battle-weary politicians bought time for reflecting on another looming power struggle in Russia by agreeing Friday to extend a cease-fire in the war in Chechnya and postponing a parliamentary confrontation with Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin.

After weeks of lying low, rebels in Chechnya struck back powerfully against Russian forces, unleashing a deadly series of coordinated truck bombings that killed at least 37 Russian servicemen and shook Russia's confidence that it has regained control of the breakaway republic.

For the fourth time in two months, Chechen rebels have ambushed a Russian armored column traveling through territory recaptured from the separatists, underscoring the rebels' growing boldness as the conflict evolves into a full-scale guerrilla war. Russian officials said Monday that 13 paratroopers were killed in the attack Sunday. But they insisted that, unlike earlier incidents, the ambush could not be blamed on errors by the Russian command or decisions on the ground.