Russians `extorting' money from fleeing Grozny residents

Russian forces, who have issued a "get out or die" ultimatum to residents of Grozny, have been extorting money from civilians trying to leave Chechnya, according to an independent Russian newspaper.

The Moscow Novaya Gazeta yesterday published a "price list" which Russian soldiers were demanding from Chechens crossing into the republic of North Ossetia, while the Human Rights Watch organisation claimed that by the time the ultimatum runs out civilians in Grozny could be facing starvation.

Russian aircraft dropped leaflets on Grozny yesterday telling residents they had until Saturday to leave the city or they would be regarded as "bandits and terrorists" and would face death from "artillery and aviation". According to official sources, there are about 50,000 inhabitants left in the city but Mr Malcolm Hawkes, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch's office in Moscow, said his organisation believed the number to be much smaller.

Those left consisted mainly of the elderly, the infirm and the poor who could not afford to bribe their way out. "Those who were able to leave have already left," he said.

While state-run TV programmes have shown victorious Russian troops storming key positions throughout northern Chechnya, Novaya Gazeta's reporter Anna Politkovskaya painted a totally different picture of soldiers demoralised by "cold, mud and fungus" and resorting to "heavy drinking and cannabis".

She listed the tariff of bribes which had to be paid at a border crossing into the neighbouring republic of North Ossetia, close to the headquarters of Russian forces at the town of Mozdok. The ORT and RTR television channels support the Yeltsin administration and the government of the Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, and have been showing nothing but Russian victories. The NTV channel now opposes the government and shows less encouraging news.

On the popular Itogy programme on Sunday night, NTV anchorman Yevgeny Kisilyov mentioned the dreaded phrase "Gruz Dvesti" (Cargo 200), a euphemism for the zinc coffins in which Russian soldiers are brought from the front. Novaya Gazeta, which has links with the liberal and generally pro-western Yabloko party headed by liberal economist Mr Grigory Yavlinsky, wrote of young soldiers with legs and arms amputated being shipped out of the battle zones.

Chechen insurgents are never shown on any Russian channel but the pro-rebel website (www.kavkaz.org) announced yesterday that reinforcements of "mujahideen" were arriving in the city in preparation for a major clash with Russian troops.

Meanwhile, President Clinton has again warned Russia of the consequences of its campaign in Chechnya. "Russia will pay a heavy price for those actions, with each passing day sinking more deeply into a morass that will intensify extremism and diminish its own standing in the world," he said.

Twelve foreign nationals including a a man from Northern Ireland have been arrested in Georgia as they tried to cross into Chechnya, Itar-Tass news agency reported yesterday.

Seamus Martin can be contacted by e-mail at: seamus.martin@russia.com