Posted on 08/14/2002 12:34:36 AM PDT by Stavka2
Chechen rebel says Georgian officers helped his group across Russian borderSource: RTR Planeta TV, Moscow, in Russian 2000 gmt 13 Aug 02The militants who crossed into Russia from Georgia at the end of July were acting with the knowledge of the Georgian military. At least, according to one of the bandits arrested in Chechnya, who is now giving evidence to Russian special services. Here is our special correspondent Aleksey Ponomorev reporting from Groznyy: A 25-year-old native of Achkhoy-Martanovskiy District, Ali Duriyev, was detained by a special-task unit of the Defence Ministry on 11 August in Itum-Kalinskiy District. He tried to return to Georgia with the remnants of Khasan's gang, which penetrated Chechnya from the Pankisi gorge at the end of July and was destroyed by [Russian] border guards. Ali says that, before the intrusion into the Russian Federation, Georgian military men visited the rebel camp. They gave the rebels an escort - two officers and horses - to help Khasan's gang to make it to the Russian border. [Ali Duriyev, captioned as detained militant] There was a certain Georgian military man. A military man. He was wearing full camouflage. He was a military man. He went to our commander's tent and spoke to him. Duriyev had gone to Georgia as part of [Chechen rebel field commander] Ruslan Gelayev's bandit formation. The rebels went from Chechnya to Ingushetia and then to the Pankisi gorge. Ali wanted to get refugee status and leave for Turkey. However, for that, he had to take part in an armed raid on Chechnya's Itum-Kalinskiy District. [Ali Duriyev] We went to the Pankisi gorge. We trained there. We laid mines - we were taught all kinds of things there. There were Arabs there. One of them was called Khalif, he trained us too. Despite the fact that Ali Duriyev is giving evidence quite willingly, criminal proceedings have been instituted against him on a number of charges simultaneously: illegal crossing of the state border, illegal possession of arms and participation in illegal bandit formations. However, the investigation is now concerned with establishing the status of the Georgian military who helped the Chechen militants in the Pankisi gorge. According to the detained Ali Duriyev, those people did not look anything like members of dispersed gangs. Good-quality military kit, weapons and communications devices - everything indicated that they were career officers.
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