#33 - JRL 2006-252 - JRL Home
Operational HQ in Chechnya Confirms Information on Militants' Numbers

GROZNY. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Spokesman for the operational headquarters in the Chechen Republic Lt. Col. Nikolai Varavin has confirmed the information on the number of illegal armed groups in the republic, which Col. Gen. Yevgeny Baryayev, the commander of the Combined Federal Forces in the region, cited last week.

"Combined Federal Forces Commander Col. Gen. Yevgeny Baryayev's recent statement on the strength of illegal armed groups caused heated debate in the press," Varavin told journalists on Wednesday.

Baryayev earlier told journalists that up to 700 militants were active in the republic's mountains.

The commander's figures are "based on reliable information coming through diverse channels," Varavin said. "He has a significant amount of sources for getting information on the situation," he said.

"The Chechen Interior Ministry has given somewhat different data, and this can be explained by the fact that the Combined Federal Forces have broader channels for receiving information than the Chechen Interior Ministry," Varavin said.

"Recently, the militants have become concentrated in the mountainous part of the Chechen Republic, and this is no secret to the military command," he said.

"This is what could chiefly explain the exacerbation of the operational situation. We know who is carrying weapons, and we will find them sooner or later," he said.

"In the past ten months of this year alone, 594 militants were detained, 102 militants who put up armed resistance, including 11 gang leaders, were killed, and 339 members of illegal armed units laid down their arms," Varavin said.

"As many as 2,100 firearms and 8,400 hand grenades have been seized and 150 landmines planted on the routes of movement of military convoys have been neutralized in this period," he said.