Hardened fights are still observed in Dagestan. According to the information of the press centre of the Russian forces in Makhachkala, paratroopers are still trying to seize the village of Tando, which is being kept from August 7, along with a number of other mountain settlements, by Islamic troops. The representative of the press centre states that the control for Tando means the control for the mountain pass Harami. Yesterday the Russian party affirmed that the mountain pass, which is a gate to Chechnya, had been captured. Today the press centre announced that they had managed just to fortify near the village, but later were forced out to leave the position. According to the data of the press centre, eight Russian soldiers died and 20 � wounded. The decisive operation in Botlikh region of Dagestan will be started not earlier than in the next week, the press centre stated. An additional time is required to conduct the campaign with minimum losses.
In Uzbekistan 6 persons were yesterday sentenced to a long imprisonment (from 15 to 18 years), accused as concerned in the terrorist act in Tashkent in February, 1999. In the result of blows on February 16 in the Uzbek capital 16 persons died and more than 1000 were wounded. The court was a closed one. The right reinforcement organisations are anxious that under the pretence of a struggle against terrorism, the authorities smother the political opposition.
Today in Ashgabad the American Minister of Power Bill Richardson is holding a meeting with the Turkmen leaders. The sides will discuss the territorial dispute between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan concerning the Caspian shelf. This dispute impedes the construction of the gas pipeline, through which the Turkmen natural gas is to be transported on the bottom of the Caspian Sea via Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey. Yesterday in Baku Richardson called the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to regulate contradictions regarding the supply of the natural gas to Turkey.
You may learn the Russian point of view regarding these issues on p. 3
Radio �Liberty�, August 19
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