(9 Jun 1995) Russian/Nat
In the central Asian republic of Tajikistan, Russian troops have been fighting rebels opposed to the hard-line Communist government supported by Moscow.
The conflict has claimed the lives of troops who've been killed on the mountain border with Afghanistan where the rebels have their bases.
A ceasefire agreement is already in ruins and the Russian Foreign Ministry says that talks to prolong the agreement have collapsed.
For these Russian soldiers charged with keeping the peace on the Afghan border, it's going to be a long hot summer.
This year at least 40 of their colleagues have been killed in clashes with Tajik rebels - twice that number have been wounded.
A temporary ceasefire between the government and the opposition in the capital Dushanbe, lies in ruins after bitter border clashes throughout the Spring.
The prospect of peace and an early resolution to this ongoing crisis appears to be remote. Earlier this month opposition leaders rejected a U-N brokered proposal to extend the truce when it officially expires in August.
At the moment fighting between the combatants is concentrated around the mountainous Badakhshan region, to the east of Tajikistan.
Rebel forces have launched systematic hit and run raids over the border from their Afghan bases - the strikes are unpredictable.
Helicopters ferrying in supplies and bringing out the wounded are painstakingly guarded.
For the Russians this is a conflict they could easily do without. Their forces are already heavily embroiled in the Chechen crisis, and the Tajik border is an unwanted second front.
The potential threat of an Islamic resurgence in Central Asia, has meant that more than 25-thousand troops have been kept on active duty in Tajikistan.
However unofficial sources say that the real reason for the presence of the troops is Moscow's determination to protect Uranium ore resources, and the Soviet era processing plants located in the republic.
Whatever the reason this is a conflict which lacks any dignity - rebels who were shot whilst they were gun running in the heart of Tajikistan, are left to rot where they fell.
Russian ground forces complain of the chaos which surrounds them and of being ill-equipped for their task.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"You can see it even at the border posts now - they are manned to an absolute minimum. Combat units on front line missions are only staffed at 30 , 40, or 50 sometimes. Nobody wants to serve in the army."
SUPER CAPTION: Captain Martinenko, 201st Motorised Rifles Division
But Martinenko is also waging a propaganda war with the rebels and mountain villagers.
Crudely illustrated leaflets urging an end to hostilities, are blasted from rocket launchers into opposition-held territory.
It may be cheap but it's hardly effective. If anything it illustrates the virtually impossible task of using force to control vast stretches of mountain passes.
A few kilometres over the border, Afghan Muhjahideen military bases are a refuge and training ground for the Tajik opposition.
Linked by blood relations as well as a common tongue, the Tajiks and Afghans have found a common cause in their hatred of Russia.
13 years of war with the Soviets gave the Afghans sufficient time to observe their enemy.
The Muhjahideen have used this knowledge in the vicious faction war they've been fighting for the control of Afghanistan.
Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of one of the ten Islamic factions, is an ethnic Tajik.
The war-torn suburbs of the Afghan capital Kabul, are home to thousands of Tajik refugees.
abuses.
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