The New York Times

Friday, December 10, 1999

Russians Vow to Return Refugees to Chechnya

By MICHAEL R. GORDON

GUDERMES, Russia -- Russian officials vowed Thursday to return the flood of refugees in a neighboring republic to Russian-controlled areas of Chechnya by the end of the year.

The reverse migration of thousands of people appears intended to demonstrate that Russia is making progress in stabilizing Chechnya, that it is containing the problem there and that talk of a human disaster is overblown.

Russian officials insist the move will improve the plight of the refugees, who have been trapped in primitive camps in the neighboring republic, Ingushetia.

"I want the people out of the tent camps and rail cars of Ingushetia," Nikolai Koshman, the Russian deputy prime minister who serves as Moscow's senior representative to Chechnya, said in an interview. "The conditions there are really bad."

Whether Russian authorities are prepared to care for the refugees they are planning to bring back is another question. At the same time they are encouraging refugees to return, the Russian military is urging civilians in Grozny -- estimated at anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 -- to leave for those same camps.

The Russian military has laid siege to the Chechen capital and has urged the civilians to leave so it has a free hand in pummeling rebels who have taken up positions there.

A few days ago Russian warplanes dropped leaflets over Grozny urging residents to escape the city or face a deadly bombardment. After strong criticism from the West, Moscow softened its tone, but did not remove the threat of a decisive assault on the Islamic militants there.

To handle the influx of returning refugees, Russia is hastening to complete several tent cities in Chechnya. But the capacity of the camps totals only about 15,000 to 17,000. Thousands of other Chechens would have to settle in towns that only recently were war zones and which are still without basic services.

The difficulty Russia is having in restoring Chechen towns was evident today in Gudermes, Chechnya's second-largest city. The grim city, which still bears the scars of the first war in Chechnya, is being used as the administration center of the Russian-controlled part of the republic.

Russian officials have touted Gudermes as something of a showcase and they announced with fanfare several weeks ago that gas and electricity was being restored. Residents who gathered in the mud-filled square in front of the town's administration building said today that the city was calmer than it was a few weeks ago.

But Thursday the electricity was on the blink, forcing Deputy Prime Minister Koshman of Russia to hold a meeting with local officials in a darkened room. A local hospital was without heat, and had to deal with the sick almost entirely on an out-patient basis. Residents complained that they received little food or other basic assistance. "We need help," said Khamzat Akhmadov, 46, who said he had received two cans of stewed meat and 15 pounds of flour for his six-member family.

Since the beginning of the latest Chechen war, the plight of Chechnya's refugees has been a wrenching and explosive problem. Tens of thousands rushed to the border when the Russian bombs began to fall. As the refugee camps grew in Ingushetia, the Russians temporarily sealed the border, leaving thousands of people stranded in Chechnya and setting off an international outcry.

Ingush authorities say more than 200,000 people have sought refuge on their territory, but Russian officials and some Chechens here maintain that Ingushetia has exaggerated the situation to obtain extra financial aid, and that the current total does not exceed 100,000.

The focus of the Russian effort involves thousands of refugees in rail cars or in tents not fit for winter. Russia also hopes to lighten the burden on Ruslan Aushev, Ingushetia's president, who has complained about the enormous difficulties his republic is facing.

Either way, the figure is enormous, especially since many of the refugees are living in trying conditions. Some are being housed in railroad cars.

To hasten a resolution, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia signed a decree last month ordering Russian authorities to disband the refugee camps in Ingushetia by December 25 and to move the people there to Chechnya. Thursday, Koshman said that was still the plan, though he said the deadline might slip a few days.

"All the conditions are being created for their return," he said. "I think people will want to come back." But whether all the refugees will want to return in the face of Russian occupation is not clear.

To handle the refugees, tent cities are being built at Znamenskoye, Sernovodsk and Asinovskaya. The tent cities at Znamenskoye, which workers are still rushing to finish, have gas heat and are close to schools, making them relatively comfortable by the standards of other camps.

But capacity is just part of what seems to be needed.

Koshman said he expected many refugees to return to their homes in newly captured cities like Urus-Martan, which recently fell to Russian troops. That would reduce the crunch at the camps -- assuming the cities in Chechnya can be repaired and supplied with heat and electricity.

If suitable accommodations cannot be found for all of the returning refugees, the Russian government is considering moving some of the rail car shelters from Ingushetia to Chechnya, duplicating the conditions it is trying to avoid.

Though Putin talked about disbanding the refugee camps in Ingushetia, Koshman insisted that none of the refugees would be forcibly returned.

"It is up to them," he insisted. "We will provide electricity, and I think people will come back."