RUSSIAN GENERAL SAYS YUGOSLAVIAN CONFLICT IS "THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR 3"

Saturday, April 10, 1999
Courtesy of : Neil Konitshek hutrcc@inetworld.net

MOSCOW -- Viktor Chechevatov, the three-star general who commands the
Russian ground forces in the Far East Region, is convinced that NATO's
attacks on Yugoslavia are "the beginning of World War III."

Chechevatov has repeatedly made public calls for Moscow to send arms and
men, preferably with him in charge, to fight the American-led NATO troops
alongside the Serbs.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin continues to say that his country will stay
away from the fighting, but Russians are becoming more frustrated while
they watch Western forces attack their ally. They miss the days when the
West feared the former USSR, and want those days back again. In fact, there
is more support for confrontational policies toward the West than any time
since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

"There exists the risk of the military pressuring the civilian leadership
for a military reaction," says Carnegie Center analyst Alexander Pikayev.
"The political leadership is under great pressure from the leftist and
nationalist opposition, which wants to use the Balkan crisis to come to
power."

The Russian military is weaker than it has been in years, with only 550
warplanes and 1,200 helicopters. These numbers are 15 times less than 10
years ago and are only 14 percent of NATO's capabilities.

However, Russia still has 6,660 nuclear warheads, and senior generals warn
that Moscow would use them if it felt threatened. The Northern fleet
completed the test-fire of a ballistic missile in exercises just last week.

In a recent letter to Yeltsin, Chechevatov warned that "the bombing of
Yugoslavia could turn out in the very near future to be just a rehearsal
for similar strikes on Russia." Nearly two-thirds of Russians say they
agree with the general.

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