BASAEV BLAMES RUSSIAN SECURITY SERVICES FOR GUDERMES FIGHTING.

The danger is increasing that neighboring Dagestan will be drawn into the conflict in Chechnya. Shamil Basaev, who was appointed this week as deputy commander-in-chief of Chechnya’s armed forces, is the leader of the “Congress of the Peoples of Chechnya and Dagestan”–an organization that aims to unite the two republics into a single Islamic state. Basaev has accused the Russian security services of provoking last week’s deadly clashes in Gudermes. He has described the Gudermes incidents as “a battle for Dagestan between Chechnya and Russia.” This cannot fail to alarm the Dagestani authorities. Dagestan’s minister of nationalities and foreign relations, acting Security Council Secretary Magomedsalikh Gusaev, says that both the Dagestani and the federal authorities have taken the necessary measures to prevent infiltration of Dagestan by armed detachments of “Wahhabis.” (Nezavisimaya gazeta, July 22)

Basaev’s recent appointment as deputy commander-in-chief of Chechnya’s armed forces has been seen as an indication that the uneasy alliance between himself and President Maskhadov remains in force. As before, however, Basaev appears less committed to an all-out fight against the Chechen opposition than Maskhadov does. When he blamed the “Wahhabis” for the fighting in Gudermes, Maskhadov said nothing about Kremlin plots. But Basaev’s interpretation shifts the blame for the bloodshed away from Maskhadov’s opponents within Chechnya and onto the traditional enemy, Moscow.

SEVASTOPOL NAVAL PORT NOW ACCESSIBLE TO FOREIGN VESSELS.