MOSCOW, Dec. 27 -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin defended Tuesday his decision to invade the breakaway republic of Chechnya and ordered Russian troops there to step up their battle against the supporters of separatist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev. In a televised speech devoted to the Chechen crisis, Yeltsin called for an end to the Russian bombings that have killed civilians in Chechnya but urged ground troops to redouble their efforts to disarm Dudayev's forces. 'You have been entrusted with a concrete task -- to disarm bandit formations,' Yeltsin said in a portion of the speech addressed to the military, which has questioned its role in the operation on Russian soil. 'I ask you to do the utmost possible to carry out that task, and I believe you can do it.' Yeltsin said the army and Interior Ministry troops he sent into Chechnya on Dec. 11 had surrounded the Chechen capital Grozny, and assured viewers that armed rebels who continued to defend the city and other areas against the troops would be 'dealt with harshly.' Much of Yeltsin's 25-minute speech, carried infull on Russia's two state TV networks, was devoted to defending his use of force in Chechnya, which has damaged has popularity among Russian citizens. The president explained what he called 'the most difficult decision' to send troops into Chechnya, portraying Dudayev's regime as a nest of criminals and separatists that present a serious danger to Russian unity and Russian lives. 'Remember that the wave of banditism in the Chechen land threatens danger to our entire country.
Your relatives could become its victims,' the president said, playing on Chechnya's lawless image and other government officials' warnings that Dudayev supporters have planned terrorist acts in Moscow and other Russian cities. Yeltsin offered no concessions to Dudayev's separatism, reinforcing his demand that Chechnya be returned to Russian rule and saying the leader's independence claims alone -- though they stood virtually unchallenged for three years before the invasion -- justified the use of force. 'Russian soldiers are defending the unity of Russia,' he said. 'The Chechen republic is a part of the Russian Federation, whose structure is specified in the Constitution. No territory has the right to leave Russia.' Dudayev declared Chechnya independent from Moscow in 1991, shortly after he was elected president of the mostly Muslim south Russian region of 1 million. Yeltsin claimed Dudayev's election was illegal, saying it was held 'under military rule' and that voting took place only in select areas where support for the former Soviet Air Force bomber pilot was high. While he ordered an end to the Russian bombings 'that could cause losses among the peaceful population of Grozny,' Yeltsin said the Chechen capital was blockaded by Russian forces and the next step would be 'to quickly purge Grozny of criminal elements.' In Washington, the Clinton administration welcomed Yeltsin's decision to stop the bombing raids in Chechnya. The State Department said it favored any action that would limit bloodshed. 'We believe any dimunition in the level of fighting -- including the bombing of Grozny -- would be welcomed,' department spokesman Michael McCurry said. Fighting simmered in areas around the capital Tuesday, with the Russian government reporting two servicemen killed, bringing the official total of losses among army and Interior Ministry troops to 46. Among fears the fighting could drag on and spread throughout the North Caucasus region, Russia sent fresh troops to Chechnya, while Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigory Karasin called on the West to revise the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty to allow Moscow to keep more men and materiel in the 'unstable southern region.' Yeltsin also said negotiations with armed Chechens could be renewed and announced he had named three envoys who would head a team also including lawmakers from both houses of Russia's parliament. No concrete talks were scheduled, and Yeltsin qualified the offer of negotiations by saying their subject would be 'cease-fire and disarmament' by the rebels, but the initiative marked a change for the Kremlin, which had ruled out talks last week in a reaction to Dudayev's continued defiance. Dudayev remained rebellious in reaction to initial indications Monday that Russia would continue its attack, calling for a Russian withdrawal in comments to the Itar-Tass news agency before Yeltsin's speech.
