Russia lauds army, fears attacks by Chechen rebels

Russia lauds army, fears attacks by Chechen rebels
REUTERS

MOSCOW, FEB 23: Russia today saluted its armed forces on its day of `The Defenders of the Fatherland', but Chechens marked the day as the anniversary of a cruel mass deportation ordered by Stalin.

Acting president Vladimir Putin, who faces a presidential election on March 26, today turned the hitherto low-key professional army holiday into a national affair, beating the military drum and calling on Russians to unite around their army.

A solemn, bare-headed Putin led a bevy of top generals to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier, a World War II remembrance monument at the foot of the Kremlin Wall, crowning days of belligerent rhetoric in support of the army.

He has showered praise on Russian servicemen fighting rebels in Chechnya, where February 23 is the 56th anniversary of the start of the deportation of Chechens by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. He had accused them of collaborating with the Nazis.

About 650,000 Chechens were forcibly sent to central Asia and Siberia in railway cattle cars. Thousands of them died.

Anticipating possible attacks by Chechen rebels on military and other targets, the authorities have beefed up security in major towns and cities across the vast Russian Federation.

Russian television showed pictures of policemen checking cars and identities on Moscow roads and a police spokesman said special measures had been taken to protect military and civilian infrastructure sites against possible rebel attacks.

Moscow also sealed Chechnya's administrative border with Russia proper and has conducted a wave of house-to-house searches in the rebel republic despite assurances from rebel leaders they were not planning any action today.