Moscow Seals Border With Breakaway Republic

Russia sealed the border of the breakaway republic of Chechnya on Monday, and both the Chechen government and opposition leaders expressed fears of imminent Russian intervention.

In neighboring North Ossetia, Russian Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev admitted that Russian warplanes attacked Chechen airfields last week.

Grachev told the Itar-Tass news agency that planes that brought weapons and mercenaries to Chechnya were parked at the airfields.

He said only facilities controlled by Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev were targeted. “It was these facilities that were destroyed,” Grachev said. He denied reports that residential areas were fired on.

“There is more of a threat of war, not less,” Chechen Foreign Minister Yousef Shamsedin told reporters in the Chechen capital of Grozny, pointing to Grachev’s presence in North Ossetia as evidence.

Shamsedin estimated that Russia will attack in two or three days if no settlement is reached.

Dudayev, who declared Chechnya independent in 1991, has for months been accusing Moscow of arming and leading rebels seeking to oust him from power.

According to the Interfax news agency, Grachev said three Russian army groups were being mobilized on Chechnya’s border, including army units, Interior Ministry troops and “special forces” for possible military action.