Russia to Pour Money Into Chechen Fight

Russia is planning a big boost in military spending--up to $1 billion--to pay for its renewed war against separatist Chechnya.

The large spending increase, announced Wednesday by Finance Minister Mikhail M. Kasyanov, suggests that the Kremlin is preparing for a protracted military operation in Chechnya and that casualties among both civilians and soldiers are likely to mount.

Several other top Russian officials were sending signals Wednesday that the new war could be longer and tougher than the nation’s leaders have yet been willing to admit.

But political and military leaders alike have pledged to avoid the pitfalls of the 1994-96 Chechen war, which ended in Russia’s defeat by separatist guerrillas. Chechnya won de facto independence, but that was never recognized by Russia or the international community.

The plan to sharply increase spending on weapons was formulated by the so-called conciliatory commission, which includes Kremlin officials and members of both houses of parliament and which recommended Wednesday that the military budget be increased by 26 billion rubles, or about $1 billion.

“It’s a recommendation. The final figure may be slightly greater or slightly smaller,” Kasyanov said, giving no indication as to how the money would be raised.

An extra $1 billion is a big slice of money for a country reliant on International Monetary Fund loans even to service its IMF debts. Russia’s entire budget for 2000 amounts to $23 billion, not including debt servicing. The initial outlay for defense in that budget, which has not yet been passed by parliament, was about $4.7 billion.

But Russia’s war in Chechnya has widespread popular support and, in the run-up to parliamentary and presidential elections, has overshadowed all other issues, including a raft of financial scandals washing right to the door of the Kremlin.

Kasyanov said military spending is now Russia’s top priority, with all branches of power agreed on the need to boost spending.

The decision indicates the high priority attached to the issue by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, whose popularity has risen sharply since Russian planes began intensively bombing villages in the separatist republic last month.

“In connection with events in the south, we need to spend additional funds. It’s apparent we must change our priorities toward financing weaponry,” Putin said Wednesday.

In the biggest Russian military operation since the 1994-96 war, Russian troops have thrust deep into Chechnya, taking control of the top third of the republic down to the Terek River, which is 12 miles from the capital, Grozny, at the closest point.

In another hint that the war might drag on, Defense Minister Igor D. Sergeyev suggested Wednesday that Russian forces might not stop at the river but might instead forge on into Chechen territory.

“It all depends on the situation,” he said, raising questions about what Russia’s military strategy is. Last week, Russian media reported that the key strategy was to occupy the republic as far as the Terek and use the river as a natural defense against guerrilla attacks.

Sergeyev said the Russians have encountered limited resistance as they move farther into Chechnya.

Wednesday’s announcement of the planned spending increase came as Chechen officials said that 28 civilians were killed in one incident when Russian tanks fired on a bus carrying about 40 villagers. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had no information about the claim.

The villagers were traveling in a bus convoy approaching the village of Chervlyonnaya in northeastern Chechnya late Tuesday when their bus was hit, according to an Agence France-Presse report that quoted a Chechen official in the region.

Refugees fleeing Chechnya told an AFP reporter that Russian planes were bombing roads.

The move to sharply increase Russian military spending could add to pressure on the IMF over its loan policies to Russia, after criticism of big loans made during the 1994-96 war even as the country invested billions in an ill-conceived military campaign that killed tens of thousands of people, mainly civilians.

Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov has asserted in recent days that IMF loans would help Russia wage war in Chechnya and has appealed to the West to halt financial support.

However, unlike previous loans, which the Russian government could use on spending as it saw fit, the present loan package is firmly tied to Russia’s IMF loan repayments. Even so, the most recent, a $640-million September tranche, has been delayed amid the multiplying allegations of Kremlin corruption and uncontrolled capital flight made by investigators in New York and Switzerland.

Maskhadov, one of Chechnya’s more moderate figures, has repeatedly appealed for a meeting with Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, saying it would avert a war. But Wednesday, Maskhadov imposed martial law in Chechnya, in another signal of all-out war. Chechen officials said resistance to the Russians to date had been by volunteer fighters and not Chechen army units.

Maskhadov is an experienced military strategist who commanded the Chechen seizure of Grozny in August 1996, leading to the Russian defeat.

Russia’s invasion of Chechnya came after guerrillas led by Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev seized several villages in the neighboring republic of Dagestan in August. Russian authorities have subsequently blamed Basayev and his associates for a series of apartment bomb blasts that killed a total of more than 300 people in Moscow and southern Russia.

Chechen officials said Wednesday that 48 civilians had died in Russian attacks in the previous 24 hours, a statement that could not be independently verified.

Russia’s action in Chechnya has sent more than 100,000 refugees fleeing into the tiny neighboring republic of Ingushetia. The conflict is set to be the main topic on the agenda in talks in Moscow between European Union representatives and Russian government officials today.