Russia Honors Military, Keeps Eye on Rebels

Russia warily lauded its armed forces Wednesday, observing Defender of the Fatherland Day amid heightened security reflecting fears of terrorist attacks reportedly being planned by Chechen rebels.

Feb. 23 is not only a day for honoring the military but also the day when Chechens commemorate the bitter memories of their people’s mass deportation to Central Asia in 1944 under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Russian officials said for more than a week that they had information indicating that Chechen rebels were planning terrorist actions for Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Russia clamped down by closing all its borders with the war-battered rebel republic, where movement between towns has been restricted for weeks.

Elsewhere in Russia, police were on alert, and security was reinforced at airports and train stations.

As of nightfall, “nothing had happened that would indicate the Chechen rebels had carried out their threats of terrorism,” Interior Ministry spokesman Oleg Aksyonov said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Security has been high in Moscow and many other Russian cities since September, when four apartment bombings blamed on Chechen rebels killed more than 300 people. Militiamen routinely patrol major subway and train stations in the capital, demanding identity papers from passersby.

Acting President Vladimir V. Putin, whose popularity has risen because of his tough stance on Chechen rebels, expressed regret Wednesday for the Chechens’ suffering half a century ago.

“On the 56th anniversary of the deportation of the Chechen people, I express deep sympathy for all those who suffered from unlawful repression, who endured this tragedy,” he said in a statement. “In a period of a few days, they were forced from their homes and carried to the naked steppe.”

He called for all to contribute to a multiethnic state. “We have one country--and it is here that we and our children live,” Putin said.

The Fatherland holiday, established in Soviet times, commemorates a 1918 clash with German troops that went down in history as the birthday of the Red Army.