GROZNY. March 13 (Interfax-South) - The military command and the Chechen leadership know that Chechen guerillas are planning to thwart, at any cost, the referendum on a draft constitution, spokesman for the regional headquarters for the anti-guerilla operation in the North Caucasus Colonel Ilya Shabalkin told the press on Friday.
"According to our information, rebels and their accomplices are inciting the local population to gather people together and hold a protest rally against the referendum. This will presumably take place on March 21," Shabalkin said.
Law enforcement agencies are receiving information that "the true objective of the rally is part of a rebel group's plan to commit a large-scale act of terrorism involving numerous casualties," Shabalkin said. "They intend to place responsibility for the terrorist attack on the federal forces," he said.