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TThe Independent Flame-throwers used at Beslan siege By Andrew Osborn in Moscow 24 October 2004 The Russian military used tanks, flame-throwers and rocket-propelled grenades to wipe out pro- Chechen militants during last month's Beslan school siege while some of the hostages - many of them children - may still have been cowering inside, a member of Russia's parliamentary inquiry into the tragedy has claimed. Arkady Baskaev, a deputy in Russia's parliament, says he wants to know whether the use of such extreme force was legal and whether hostages were killed as a result. Three hundred and forty- four people, more than half of them children, died as a result of the mayhem that unfolded on 3 September. Mr Baskaev's damning comments came as the army commander in charge of operations on the day, Lieutenant General Viktor Sobolev, commander of the 58th army, made a series of damaging admissions about the day's events. Gen Sobolev admitted that tanks and armoured personnel carriers had opened fire on the school, that the elite Spetznaz troops trained to storm the school were training in another town when the firing started and arrived almost an hour later, and that it took two hours to clear the "hot zone" of local militia who allegedly opened fire on the school in the first place. Defence and Interior Ministry troops had to cope on their own until the Spetznaz arrived. Separately Colonel Bakhtiar Nabiev, head of the 58th army's engineering unit, admitted that there was not one sapper among the Russian special forces who stormed the school initially despite the fact that everyone knew that the entrances to the school gym had been extensively mined. Evacuating children and adults trapped inside therefore took much longer. Gen Sobolev's account of the day was not, however, a straightforward mea culpa. Published in Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star), the army's official newspaper, it was clearly an attempt to shift the blame for what happened on to the FSB security service and the Russian Interior Ministry who also took part in the operation. Gen Sobolev said that the FSB ordered tanks and armoured personnel carriers to be used and that it was the FSB's elite Spetznaz troops who were training in the neighbouring town of Vladikavkaz when the firing started and therefore arrived far too late. The daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta claimed that Gen Sobolev's buck-passing account was certain to have been sanctioned by Sergey Ivanov, Russia's powerful Defence Minister. The parliamentary inquiry investigating the day's events has made it clear that it will cross-examine Mr Ivanov and the paper claimed that he was keen to get in his counter-attack beforehand. Nezavisimaya said the authorities had a lot of questions to answer. "How is it possible that at the most crucial moment when the explosions detonated in the gym that a Spetznaz unit trained for storms and other extraordinary situations wasn't around? Why were they training so far from Beslan? And why weren't there any so-called duty units which are supposed to be on hand in such situations?" The paper expressed incredulity about the lack of sappers too. "From the very first moment all the TV and radio stations announced that the school had been mined. Why did the special forces, who had been training to free the hostages for the preceding two and a half days, include no sappers?" Pavel Felgenhauer, a military analyst, has gone even further. Writing in the liberal Novaya Gazeta he has accused the Russian Air Force of firing air-to- surface missiles at the school, a claim that the authorities flatly deny. At least one MI-24 gunship was hovering over the school during the firefight and was thought to be directing special forces on the ground but Mr Felgenhauer claims its presence was more sinister. "An armoured helicopter would never have made it there so quickly unless previously briefed and given time to prepare for the mission. According to the locals, the MI-24 was not just hovering. It was bombing." He also cites eyewitness testimony saying that special forces used flame-throwers and rocket-propelled grenades. "There is more and more evidence that it was not a hostage rescue operation... but an army operation aimed at wiping out the terrorists." BBC News, Last Updated: Friday, 22 October, 2004, 18:08 GMT 19:08 UK 'Environment threat' to Caucasus The region is littered with former munitions  international team says. A report by the UN and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe says old weaponry is another problem. It says rapidly swelling numbers in the area's capitals and how to share water resources are key regional concerns. But the report also says environmental problems can be a catalyst for security if the political will is forthcoming. Environmental stress and change could undermine security in the three South Caucasian countries Frits Schlingemann, Unep The report is entitled Environment And Security: Transforming Risks Into Cooperation - The Case Of The Southern Caucasus. It was prepared by the OSCE, the United Nations Development Programme and the UN Environment Programme. The report says environmental degradation and access to natural resources could deepen contention in areas of existing conflicts in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent regions of Azerbaijan. Hopeful signs It says the militarised situation also hampers waste management and disposal, and the maintenance and renovation of irrigation and hydroelectric dams, constraining economic growth. But it says environmental cooperation can be a basis for international peace-building, and for post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction. The report says "a convincing body of work" has shown that countries are likelier to cooperate than to fight over control of international river basins. Frits Schlingemann, director of Unep's European office, said: "The assessment demonstrated that in the worst case environmental stress and change could undermine security in the three South Caucasian countries. "However, sound environmental management and technical co-operation could also be a means for strengthening security while promoting sustainable development if the three governments would decide to do so." Shared worries The report forms part of a wider effort, the Environment and Security (Envsec) Initiative, which is run jointly by the three agencies in the Caucasus, south-eastern Europe and Central Asia. The report concentrates on what it says are three areas of common concern for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia: environmental degradation and access to natural resources in areas of conflict management of cross-border environmental concerns including water resources, natural hazards, and industrial and military legacies population growth and rapid development in capital cities. The report says the methods and effectiveness of agreeing how to share water resources - both surface and underground and including the Caspian and Black Seas - are key concerns. It is also worried about the disposal of abandoned Soviet weapons and chemicals and the reclamation of contaminated lands in the region. Emerging problems Kalman Mizsei of UNDP said: "The Southern Caucasus countries are confronted by similar social, political and economic transformations that are altering century-old relationships within and between them, and shaping their development. Campaigners are worried about the disposal of weapons "Each of these transformations both has an impact on and could be affected by the state of the natural environment." Roy Reeve, the head of the OSCE mission to Georgia, said: "We are facing a variety of non-traditional threats to security posed by socio-economic and environmental issues. "The OSCE has a duty to identify these threats... The ENVSEC Initiative... is assisting us in fulfilling this mandate." Pressure on Chechen Media www.iagj.org.ge (GT/IAGJ)On October 20, Visami Tutuyev, a director of KavkazCenter Chechen news agency, a refugee from Chechnya, applied Independent Association of Georgian Journalists for support. Mr. Tutoyev said he was arrested by Security Ministry officers of Counter-terrorist Centre on October 9, near Tbilisi City Municipality building. The journalist claimed he had been kept in custody in the Counter-terrorist Centre office for eight hours. He was not allowed to contact his lawyer and his cell phone was confiscated. Next day unidentified people wounded the journalist's son in Baku. Visami Tutuyev asserts that the conflict was deliberately provoked and aimed at intimidating him. On October 20 Mr. Zviad Pochkhua, The President of Independent Association of Georgian Journalists addressed to President of Georgia demanding protection of Chechen journalists and guarantees of freedom of speech. "Visimi Tutuyev was arrested a day after the Russian channel aired a report about the KavkazCenter website. The report mentioned an office located in Ortachala (37 Gorgasali Street) that had served as our headquarters for two years. Today State Channel I is operating in the office. Back two years ago, in 2002, Mr. Shabalkin, a representative of Russia's Counter-Terrorist Centre, stated at a Grozny press conference that I helped Chechen terrorists publish some propaganda material. At that time I took three interviews with Chechen leaders, including Movladi Udugov and Zelimkhan Iandarbiyev. In addition, IAGJ helped Visami Tutoyev receive a journalist's accreditation card from Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.That has caused discontent of Russian special services. Allegedly in connection with this case, next day after publishing the material, the Interior Ministry ordered a massive search operations in Chechen families. The same day, Police and Security Ministry officers broke into the house of Vice-President of IAGJ Geno Jokhidze. Western media international organizations and media outlets, including Rferl, Committee to Protect Journalists reported on the fact. Some Georgian newspapers suggested that the anti-Chechen round-up operation was conducted as ex-president Shevardnadze came under intense pressure from Moscow. Two months ago the director of KavkzaCenter turned to us to help the agency post its magazine in the Internet. KavkazCentre web-site which was hosted by a private Lithuanian Internet company was shut down recently. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs insisted that Lithuania block the web-site. Several days ago the agency was closed down. However, the Lithuanian court ruled in the agency's favour. On October 20 Lithuania's Journalists and Publishers Ethics Commission considered KazkazCenter's case to conclude that the web-site did not promote national and religious hatred and the material was free from terrorist propaganda. IAGJ believes that the restriction of the Chechen information sources and pressure applied on Chechen journalists would block the spread of unbiased information. That damages the interest of society and violates internationally recognized rights. Mr. President, we see that the Russian government is attempting to politicize the issue. We do not rule out that Moscow will mount pressure onthe Georgian government. But we don't think that this might be reflected on freedom of speech in Georgia that will challenge democratic processes in our country. IAGJ believes that the security of journalists as well as their professional activity should not be subjected to interference, especially if thisinterference comes from outside the country. We believe it is alarming that the special services contacted KavkzaCenter director on behalf of Channel I. This fact may damage the image of the TV station and cause mistrust to the company. We call on you to properly react to these facts. Independent Association of Georgian Journalists (IAGJ) is ready to assist you and the government ofGeorgia in promoting freedom of speech and general democratic principles in Georgia."