Chechens Cheer as Train Departs With Russian Military Equipment
A train loaded with Russian military equipment pulled out of rebel Chechnya on Saturday as Moscow’s last troops in the war-torn republic prepared to leave.
Chechen fighters cheered as the train, loaded with tanks and other equipment, rumbled slowly out of the Khankala base near Grozny and toward the Russian heartland.
“In 1994, Dzhokar Dudayev said the Russians would ask us for a corridor so they could leave in safety, and now they are leaving,” said Ruslan, a Chechen fighter. Former rebel leader Dudayev was killed in a Russian rocket attack in April.
A group of children stood beside the track shouting “God is great!” as the train moved off. A helicopter gunship circled overhead in the clear blue sky.
A second, much longer train headed toward the base ready to be loaded with troops and equipment.
Russia sent troops into the mainly Muslim separatist republic in December 1994 to crush its drive for independence. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, were killed in the fighting.
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