| | Words in the News |
INTRO | | The Russian military responded to criticisms from the international community after it gave the people of Chechnya an ultimatum to leave Grozny.The BBC Moscow correspondent Paul Anderson reported. |
IN FULL | |  | Listen to the report in full |
 |  | 9 December 1999
Russian military responds to international criticism |
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NEWS 1 | | | Listen to the first part of the report |
| | | General Kazantsev said the interpretation of the leaflets air-dropped on Grozny on Monday, telling civilians to leave or face destruction, was all wrong. He said it was a warning not an ultimatum aimed only at what he called the banditsdug in in the capital waiting for the advance of Russian forces. The Russians believe about six thousand rebel fighters remain in Grozny. The statement is a response, albeit a confusing one, to the international outrage at the threat to innocent civilians. Between fifteen and forty thousand are trapped in the capital, too sick, old or poor to leave. By Paul Anderson, the BBC’S correspondent in Moscow |
WORDS | | air-dropped: dropped from the air, from planes or helicopters
warning: something that tells people of a possible danger
ultimatum: a warning that unless someone acts in a particular way, you will take action against them
bandits: armed robbers
dug in: suggests that they were unwilling to leave
advance:move forward
rebel: here, a person who fights against their country's army in order to change the political system
albeit: although. Albeit is often used to introduce a fact or comment which contrasts in some way with what you have just said
outrage: extreme anger |
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| NEWS 2 | | | Listen to the second part of the report |
| | | The Russians have also announced they will keep open the safe corridor out of Chechnya just outside Grozny, beyond Saturday, and that refugees can expect to be fed and be given medical treatment and put up in tent cities the Russians are building in the areas they’ve cleared. But many civilians hiding in cellars won’t know of any of this. There’s no communication and no television in Grozny and the intensive Russian bombing, which drove them underground in the first place, continues unabated. |
| WORDS | | safe corridor: here, an escape route to take people to safety
refugees:people who are forced to leave their country because there is a war there or because of their political or religious beliefs
drove: forced
unabated: without losing force: there is no sign of an end to bombing, and no sign that it is decreasing . |
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| | | Read about the background in BBC News Online |
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