Russia Seizes Chechen Town in Heartland

Russian forces Wednesday were close to taking complete control of the Chechen heartland after seizing a key town, as Islamic voices joined the growing Western anger at the humanitarian impact of the campaign in the separatist republic.

Russia’s NTV television late Wednesday showed troops rolling into the town of Urus-Martan, south of the capital, Grozny, after Chechen rebels said they were pulling out.

Isolated bursts of antiaircraft fire streaked into the sky, a sign that some Chechen guerrillas might still be holding out. But Russia said it would complete its sweep of the town today.

Only one more large town in the lowlands remained under rebel control: Shali, 22 miles southeast of Grozny and a gateway to mountain gorges. NTV said Russian forces had seized key heights nearby.

Refugees said in nearby Achkhoi-Martan that most of Urus-Martan’s 30,000 residents had fled.

Western leaders responded with outrage after the Russian army said Monday that it would kill anybody remaining after Saturday in Grozny, a city that once held 400,000 people and where tens of thousands of civilians were still believed to be trapped.

Russian commanders later denied that the warning amounted to an ultimatum. They have promised a safe corridor for fleeing civilians but have not withdrawn their threat to launch all-out artillery and air assaults after Saturday.

European and U.S. officials have begun openly discussing sanctions, varying from withdrawing ambassadors for consultations to cutting off aid, technical cooperation or International Monetary Fund loans.

President Clinton said Wednesday that cutting off aid, which goes mainly toward Russian nuclear disarmament, would be against U.S. interests but that the issue of IMF aid could be addressed in the future.