THE CONFERENCE IN VLADIKAVKAZ
Independent Television (NTV), Segodnya, April 24, 1999, 16:00
Russian Prime Minister Primakov is in Vladikavkaz now at the conference “Northern Caucasus”, where the situation in this region is discussed. First deputy of the Chair of the Presidential Administration Oleg Sysuev, two Vice-Premiers, and almost a half of the Cabinet accompanied Primakov. In the interview at the airport the Premier said that his participation in the conference is the personal order of the president. At the beginning of the conference he stressed, that Northern Caucasus plays a very important part in the life of the country not only because of the conflict situation in it-it is a temporary thing. Primakov thinks that the concentration on the social-economic issues is the most important question. It concerns Chechnya too. By the way, the president of Chechnya did not take part in the conference, and the reason, perhaps, is in the statement of Russian president. Yeltsin agreed to meet Maskhadov, and the latter probably decided that there was no sense no participate in the negotiations at a lower level.
EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT IN YEKATERINBURG
NTV, Segodnya, April 24, 1999, 12:00
Not far from the consulates of the US and the UK an explosion was set off. According to the information of Federal Security Service (FSS), the explosion took place at 6 A.M. There were no victims, the damage is not great: only the windows were broken. According to Zdanovich, Chair of the Public Relations Center of the FSS policemen the bag beforehand and called combat engineers. But the device exploded before it was neutralized.
According to Zdanovich, the device had been left in the distance of seven meters from the buildings of the consulates of the US and the UK. But it is not evident that the target of the terrorists was the consulates, because there are many commercial enterprises in the buildings where the consulates are situated. Zdanovich stated that we can not unambiguously connect the terrorist act with the events in the Balkans.
ASSAULT ON POLICEMEN IN INGUSHETIA
Culture Channel, Vesti, April 25, 1999, 18:30
Another assault on the policemen of Ingushetia was made on April 24. The incident took place at the administrative border with Chechnya. A mobile group of the Ministry of Domestic Affairs of Ingushetia was attacked, the terrorists shot from an ambush, using a grenade cup discharge and infantry weapons. The terrorists were not captured.
