Alert In Chechnya
Russian soldiers patrolled the Chechen capital Monday on high alert, wary of possible rebel attacks on the 5th anniversary when separatists stormed the city and took control.
Access to the ruined city has been blocked since Saturday in an effort to prevent any unrest. Most residents remained at home, and the streets of the city were deserted. Only official vehicles were allowed to move around Grozny,
The Russian military brought in extra units to guard schools, markets, hospitals and government buildings.
Five years ago rebel forces stormed Grozny in an overnight operation to win control of their capital. They were later driven out by Russian forces, but memory of the seizure is still powerful in the breakaway republic.
Russian forces now control the city and much of the rest of Chechnya, but the region is far from at peace. Fighting occurs on a nearly daily basis, and there are almost daily casualties.
Grozny has been quieter than usual, with no serious clashes reported overnight.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, security was stepped up at Domodedovo airport, which services destinations in the Caucasus region, after a phone threat to mine the airport.
Despite having controlled Chechnya for months, Russian forces have been unable to stop daily attacks by small bands of rebels.
Russian troops left Chechnya following a humiliating defeat in the 1994-96 war. They returned in 1999 after rebels based inside Chechnya led an assault into the Russian region of Dagestan and after apartment building bombings, which authorities blamed on the insurgents, killed more than 300 people in Russia.
Russian forces are deployed through most of the territory, preventing large-scale rebel operations, but rebels have continued to unleash hit-and-run attacks that wound and kill federal servicemen every day.
The years of conflict in Chechnya have driven tens of thousands of people from their homes.
In June, three car bombings rocked Gudermes, Chechnya's second-largest city, killing three people and wounding dozens of others.
In an interview with American journalists that month, Putin repeated that Moscow would never allow Chechnya — which has chafed under Moscow's rule for centuries — to become independent.
The conflict has spread beyond Chechnya's borders in isolated terrorist attacks. Last week, a gunman demanding the release of five jailed Chechens seized a bus carrying 41 people in southern Russia. He was wounded and the hostages were released when Russian commandos stormed the bus.
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