News Briefs
May 13, 1996
Web posted at: 10:55 p.m. EDT (0255 GMT)Chechen violence erupts as Yeltsin plans visit
GROZNY, Russia (CNN) -- Four Russian soldiers died in fierce fighting overnight between their forces and separatist rebels in Chechnya.
Small groups of rebels with grenade launchers and submachine guns staged more than a dozen raids Monday on Russian positions in the ruined Chechen capital. Russian President Boris Yeltsin plans to visit the region later this month.
One of the soldiers was killed in Grozny; the others died in Urus-Martan, a town outside the capital, the Itar-Tass news agency said.
The violence highlighted the problems facing Russian troops in Chechnya despite tighter security before Yeltsin's visit. The president said he will try to strike a deal to end the fighting, which began when he sent troops to try to crush a separatist rebellion in December 1994.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Russians scoff at conflicting polls
MOSCOW (CNN) -- An opinion poll gives Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov a big lead in the race to be Russia's next president. A few days later, three other polls give President Boris Yeltsin a narrow lead.
In most countries, the conflicting results would cause distress. But in Russia, where distrust of pollster figures is widespread, most people reacted with little surprise.
Many pollsters failed miserably in the parliamentary elections in 1993, most notably underestimating support for ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky. And while they predicted the Communist victory in 1995, they were wide of the mark in many other respects.
One thing is clear in the polls: all show Yeltsin gaining ground.
"What can you say? This is all just more Russian data. All you can do is draw very general trends from these results," said one international analyst.
Reuters contributed to this report.
- Liberal Yavlinsky cool over Yeltsintalk of unity - May 11, 1996
NATO justifies turning stragglers over to Serbs
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- NATO on Monday defended the handover of seven armed men, presumed to be Muslims, to Bosnian Serb authorities last week after the group surrendered to U.S. troops in Serb territory.
"They were people carrying weapons in Serb jurisdiction. In the eyes of the military police commander on the ground, it was a clear criminal matter for civil jurisdiction," said Maj. Simon Haselock, a NATO spokesman in Sarajevo.
The men, wearing fatigues and carrying pistols, hand grenades and knives, were spotted by a U.S. artillery troop Friday moving east on foot toward the Serb-held town of Zvornik. After the sound of explosions and gunfire, they were seen moving west, back toward the American position.
The United Nations police spokesman in Sarajevo told Reuters that two U.N. police monitors felt the seven should have been held by NATO for more questioning, not given to the Serbs.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Big influx of Bosnian refugees could hurt accord -- official
GENEVA, Switzerland (CNN) -- U.N. refugee agency chief Sadako Ogata warned European governments Monday that they would "destabilize the fragile peace" if they sent home 700,000 Bosnian refugees prematurely.
Following a tour of Bosnia, the high commissioner for refugees told delegates from more than 50 countries that her visit had shown that large-scale returns would increase tensions in Bosnia.
Germany has 330,000 refugees, the largest number. Since last December's Dayton peace accord, host countries have become more impatient. Several have set deadlines for this summer for the refugees' repatriation.
Of 2 million displaced Bosnians, half of them still in Bosnia, only 70,000 have managed to return to their homes. Few have crossed the internal border separating Bosnia's Serb entity from its Muslim-Croat Federation.
"There are many who would like to see ethnic divisions still prevail in this time of peace," Ogata said.
- The war's over, so why can't Bosnian refugees go home? - April 23, 1996
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