Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company  
The New York Times
September 12, 2002, Thursday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section B; Page 22; Column 1; A Nation Challenged 

LENGTH: 995 words

HEADLINE: VIGILANCE AND MEMORY: RUSSIA;
Putin Warns Georgia to Root Out Chechen Rebels Within Its Borders or Face Attacks

BYLINE:  By STEVEN LEE MYERS 

DATELINE: MOSCOW, Sept. 11

BODY:
President Vladimir V. Putin threatened today to order military strikes in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, saying that Russia had a right to defend itself from what he called terrorist attacks launched from Georgian territory.

In a statement that sounded like an ultimatum, Mr. Putin sharply criticized Georgia for failing to root out hundreds of insurgents from the Russian republic of Chechnya and warned that if Georgia did not do more, Russia would conduct raids in Georgia to crush the fighters' strongholds.

Mr. Putin's warning today -- on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- was by far the harshest and most ominous of a series of Russian warnings to Georgia this summer over Chechen rebels based in Georgia.

Mr. Putin, who was shown on Russian television reading sternly from note cards at a meeting of his security aides during a Black Sea vacation in Sochi, echoed President Bush's remarks a year ago about moving strongly against terrorists and against countries that harbor them -- in this case, Georgia.

"One of the causes complicating the efficient struggle against terrorism," Mr. Putin said, "is that in some parts of the world there are still territorial enclaves that are beyond the control of national governments, which for different reasons cannot or do not want to resist the terrorist threat."

Mr. Putin announced that he had ordered military commanders to consider strikes against "reliably known bases of the terrorists" along the rugged border between Georgia and Chechnya.

Chechen fighters are particularly present in the Pankisi Gorge, northeast of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. Russian aircraft have crossed into Georgia at least five times this summer, launching strikes three times and, in one case on Aug. 23, killing a Georgian civilian near the gorge.

Mr. Putin's warning appeared to stun Georgian officials. Last month, under pressure from Russia, Georgia's president, Eduard A. Shevardnadze, ordered 1,000 police officers and security troops into the Pankisi Gorge to establish order over a region that had largely been outside the government's control.

"What is surprising is the fact that the Russian president's statement came at a moment when the Georgian authorities are taking concrete action to restore order in the Pankisi Gorge," an adviser to Mr. Shevardnadze, Levan Alexidze, told the Interfax news agency in Tbilisi.

In more conciliatory remarks later, however, Mr. Shevardnadze said he believed that Mr. Putin would still give Georgia a chance to demonstrate its ability to impose order over Georgian territory. "This statement does not mean that Russia is planning to attack Georgia and start a war," he said after a hasty meeting with his advisers tonight.

Mr. Putin, however, outlined a stark case for military action. He cited Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which gives nations the right to self-defense, as well as the resolution adopted after last year's terrorist attack that called on all nations to crack down on international terrorism.

He made his remarks hours after telephoning President Bush just after midnight today -- still Sept. 10 in Washington -- to once again express sympathy and support on the anniversary of the attack. Later today, Mr. Putin's office released a statement calling the United States and Russia essential allies in the fight against terrorism.

"Our common goal is to eradicate any forms of support for and connivance with terrorism on the part of sovereign states and public organizations," he said in the statement.

The deterioration of relations between Russia and Georgia has already ensnared the United States, which this year began a $64 million program to train and equip Georgia's Army to undertake exactly the sort of operations that Russia has accused Georgia of resisting. Russian military action would put the Bush administration in the uncomfortable middle between two countries it considers allies.

After the bombing on Aug. 23, the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, rebuked Russia, saying the United States "strongly supports Georgia's independence and territorial integrity."

In recent weeks Russia has repeatedly called on Georgia to mount joint operations in Pankisi and elsewhere, but Mr. Shevardnadze's government has rebuffed the requests, saying Georgia could accomplish the task itself.

American officials have said that Pankisi has served as a base for dozens of Islamic militants, as well as hundreds of Chechen fighters intermingled with some 4,000 Chechen refugees who fled Russia's second war in Chechnya in 1999.

Georgian forces have arrested a handful of militants since the operations in Pankisi began, but Russian officials say the operation -- which was signaled in advance -- simply shifted Chechen fighters to other parts of Georgia, near the border with Chechnya.

Mr. Putin said Georgia was harboring not only Chechen rebels, but also those responsible for three apartment bombings -- two in Moscow and one in Volgodonsk, in southern Russia -- that killed more than 300 people in 1999.

Russian officials said this week that a suspect in those bombings, Achimez Gochiyayev, was hiding in Georgia. Georgian officials denied that, noting that Georgia had previously extradited another suspect in the bombings, Adam Dekkushev, once presented with evidence.

Mr. Putin also called on Georgia to extradite 13 Chechen rebels detained on the border on Aug. 3 and 5. The fighters were part of a group of 60 who clashed with Russian forces in the Kerigo Gorge in Chechnya at the end of July, a battle that led to the latest tensions. Russia said the fighters had crossed into Chechnya from Georgia, though the fighters denied that.

"Russia has been firmly observing its international obligations, treats the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states with respect," Mr. Putin said. "However, this demands the same attitude towards ourselves."
 

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GRAPHIC: Photo: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, center, met yesterday with his top security and military officials and said he would pursue Chechen rebels. (Agence France-Presse)

LOAD-DATE: September 12, 2002