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04-27-2001, 01:23 PM
Chief of the Russian General Staff Anatoliy Kvashnin has made an urgent visit to Tashkent. The Uzbek Defence Ministry and Foreign Ministry have not only refused to provide any information on his mission but have even failed to confirm the actual fact of the visit. There has not been a single reference to it in Uzbekistan's media. However, Kommersant has learnt that this visit is linked with an anticipated incursion by Islamic gunmen: they are trying day in day out to break through the borders of several Central Asian countries at once.
The Russian embassy in Tashkent learnt of Anatoliy Kvashnin's visit when the Chief of the Russian General Staff's aircraft was already in the air. The visit was equally a surprise for the Uzbek Defence Ministry. However, the Russian military commander's mission was so important that Uzbek President Islam Karimov even decided not to fly to Istanbul for the summit of Turkic-speaking states in order to meet him. Instead he spent a few hours in consultations with Anatoliy Kvashnin. Defence Minister Qodir Ghulomov also took part in the meeting on the Uzbek side.
According to Kommersant's information, it was a question of organizing a rebuff to Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan gunmen. According to the Uzbek special services, unlike last year and the year before extremists will take the offensive not only at the junction of the Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Tajik borders in the Fergana valley but will also try to break into Southern Kazakhstan. Whereas two weeks ago the gunmen's forces were estimated at 2,000 men, now the Kyrgyz military are talking about 4,000 gunmen.
This time the Islamic terrorists are preparing for battle even more carefully than before. Kommersant's Tajik source said that a convoy of Islamists with several anti-aircraft launchers travelled through the mountain village of Tavildara a week ago. They did not have any anti-aircraft guns before.
Anatoliy Kvashnin set off for Tashkent straight after Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov and Vladimir Putin finally reached agreement in Moscow on the creation of a Russian base in Tajikistan. The base will have strong air cover: It is planned to site Russian front-line aviation aircraft in Khujand - a city close to the border with Uzbekistan - for the first time in the 10 years since the break-up of the USSR. But in order to get to the theatre of military operations in the Fergana Valley and Kazakhstan the ground-attack aircraft have to cross Uzbek territory, to which President Karimov was previously resolutely opposed. Kommersant has learned that these objections were removed following the talks with Anatoliy Kvashnin.
The sides discussed in detail the two countries' joint actions to prepare a rebuff to the Islamists. President Karimov once again resolutely rejected the presence of Russian soldiers within his combat formations and the defence minister complained that Russia does not always promptly meet the schedule for shipments of military equipment and munitions, which is completely inadmissible in the current conditions. The situation in Afghanistan, where a resolute Taleban offensive against the troops of the Northern Alliance is expected in early May, was also the subject of the secret conversations in Tashkent.
The Russian embassy in Tashkent learnt of Anatoliy Kvashnin's visit when the Chief of the Russian General Staff's aircraft was already in the air. The visit was equally a surprise for the Uzbek Defence Ministry. However, the Russian military commander's mission was so important that Uzbek President Islam Karimov even decided not to fly to Istanbul for the summit of Turkic-speaking states in order to meet him. Instead he spent a few hours in consultations with Anatoliy Kvashnin. Defence Minister Qodir Ghulomov also took part in the meeting on the Uzbek side.
According to Kommersant's information, it was a question of organizing a rebuff to Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan gunmen. According to the Uzbek special services, unlike last year and the year before extremists will take the offensive not only at the junction of the Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Tajik borders in the Fergana valley but will also try to break into Southern Kazakhstan. Whereas two weeks ago the gunmen's forces were estimated at 2,000 men, now the Kyrgyz military are talking about 4,000 gunmen.
This time the Islamic terrorists are preparing for battle even more carefully than before. Kommersant's Tajik source said that a convoy of Islamists with several anti-aircraft launchers travelled through the mountain village of Tavildara a week ago. They did not have any anti-aircraft guns before.
Anatoliy Kvashnin set off for Tashkent straight after Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov and Vladimir Putin finally reached agreement in Moscow on the creation of a Russian base in Tajikistan. The base will have strong air cover: It is planned to site Russian front-line aviation aircraft in Khujand - a city close to the border with Uzbekistan - for the first time in the 10 years since the break-up of the USSR. But in order to get to the theatre of military operations in the Fergana Valley and Kazakhstan the ground-attack aircraft have to cross Uzbek territory, to which President Karimov was previously resolutely opposed. Kommersant has learned that these objections were removed following the talks with Anatoliy Kvashnin.
The sides discussed in detail the two countries' joint actions to prepare a rebuff to the Islamists. President Karimov once again resolutely rejected the presence of Russian soldiers within his combat formations and the defence minister complained that Russia does not always promptly meet the schedule for shipments of military equipment and munitions, which is completely inadmissible in the current conditions. The situation in Afghanistan, where a resolute Taleban offensive against the troops of the Northern Alliance is expected in early May, was also the subject of the secret conversations in Tashkent.