RUSSIA: CHECHNYA: BATTLE FOR GROZNY INTENSIFIES

(22 Jan 1995) Natural Sound The see-saw battle for central Grozny intensified on Sunday. After two days of relative calm, the Chechens claimed to have recaptured Grozny’s railway station, central market and two key government buildings. But it was clear that neither side controlled the devastated city centre. Artillery and small arms fire periodically rang out from the fog that hung over Grozny. A light snow fell, and the temperature hovered near -13 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit). Early Sunday rebels launched a two-hour assault on their ruined presidential building, which they abandoned Thursday. They pulled back amid heavy Russian counter-fire. Chechen snipers remain in the upper floors of the palace, now a blackened hulk. Russian artillery concentrated on Grozny’s southern suburbs and on Chechen positions beyond the Sunzha River running through the city. Mortar rounds pounded the streets near the