(20 Nov 1999) Natural Sound
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata has met with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in Moscow after a four-day visit to Russia which included a tour of refugee camps in Ingushetia.
Ogata has pledged more help for the refugees before the onset of winter.
Meanwhile the Russian air force and army continues its offensive in Chechnya.
Meeting Russia's foreign minister after a tour of the refugee camps, the U-N High Commission Ogata said the situation in the refugee camps could not be called a humanitarian catastrophe, but that the approaching winter could cause new problems.
Ogata said her agency wanted to swiftly send international staff and additional aid to the region.
But she said the U-N-H-C-R is waiting for the Russian government to provide security guarantees before increasing its presence in the volatile region.
On the border with neighbouring Ingushetia, the tide of refugees was flowing in two directions.
Several thousand Chechens, fleeing the fighting, have arrived in Ingushetia over the past 24 hours.
More than 217,000 refugees have fled to Ingushetia since the Russian campaign began in September.
Meanwhile the Russian air force resumed sorties against suspected rebel targets on Saturday morning after bad weather grounded all flights on Friday.
The military claims to have Grozny, the Chechen capital, 80-percent surrounded and that it expected to finally take the rebel stronghold of Bamut this weekend after weeks of relentless shelling.
President Boris Yeltsin also held meetings on Saturday to discuss the situation in Chechnya.
He met Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev to talk about results of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Istanbul summit.
The president also later discussed the summit with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
ITAR-Tass quoted the presidential press service as saying Yeltsin was on the whole positive on the work of the Russian delegation at the OSCE summit and on the documents signed at the summit.
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