24-08-99 The Russian air force's attack planes are using high-yield bombs against Islamic rebels in Dagestan, including high-yield gas bombs. But Aleksey Mitrofanov, chairman of the State Duma's Committee on Geopolitical Issues has stressed there should also be a political dialogue with rebels and particularly with those countries and organisations that are sponsoring actions in the region.
"If we look at the map, we see that all these events are taking place along the route of the transit pipeline along which oil should flow," he said. That's the answer to the whole riddle. So that it's all being payrolled by specific companies that have an interest in seeing that the pipeline goes by the Turkish route."

Mitrofanov said that Turkey slapped restrictions on the passage of Russian tankers through the Dardanelles just a few days before the rebel action in Dagestan. He said this indicated that there was a co-ordinated attempt to deter Russian exports of petroleum products.
"It's nothing to do with Islam," he said. "That's just a flag that's being used. There nothing to do with the Wahhabis. It's simply a matter of concrete measures paid for by commercial companies. It's a commercial war.
That's how it differs from all the other wars that Russia has ever fought. That has to be well understood. One just has to look at the map to see how these events are unfolding." He warned that steps were needed to ensure the war did not drag on for "decades" .