Mr Yeltsin’s visit has already taken on a touch of controversy. Even before his private plane touched down, the Russian party had cancelled attendance at a mass in Bethlehem tonight because of a squabble with the Greek Orthodox Church, rumoured to be over the video rights. Equipped with three armoured cars, half a ton of Russian food, a stash of medical supplies and reservations for no fewer than 150 rooms in a Hilton hotel, Boris Yeltsin and his retinue were heading for the Holy Land last night to mark the first Orthodox Christmas of the millennium in Bethlehem.
The former president went ahead with the trip – which officials are terming a pilgrimage – despite his stunning New Year’s Eve resignation that ended eight turbulent years in office. The former head of Russia’s domestic intelligence service is now poised to realise his presidential ambitions.. Equipped with three armoured cars, half a ton of Russian food, a stash of medical supplies and reservations for no fewer than 150 rooms in a Hilton hotel, Boris Yeltsin and his retinue were heading for the Holy Land last night to mark the first Orthodox Christmas of the millennium in Bethlehem. Putin, appointed prime minister the month before, to launch a new war in Chechnya.Sedat Aral, a photographer with ISF News Pictures, said he shot the video in a bunker in Grozny, where he met Abu Musayev, head of Chechen rebel intelligence.

Mr Musayev said the Chechens could prove they were not responsible for the apartment-block bombings.The Russian public backs the “anti-terrorist campaign” in Chechnya, which has so boosted the popularity of its author, Mr Putin, that Boris Yeltsin has retired early to make way for his chosen successor.However the war started, the beneficiary is clearly Mr Putin. I know who is responsible for the bombings in Moscow (and Dagestan). It is the FSB (Russian security service), in cooperation with the GRU, that is responsible for the explosions in Volgodonsk and Moscow.” He then named other GRU officers.Nearly 300 people died when four multi-storey apartment blocks were destroyed by terrorist bombs in September The attacks provoked Mr. It is impossible that they would attack their own people.”On the video, Lieutenant Galtin said he was captured at the border between Dagestan and Chechnya while on a mine-laying mission. “I did not take part in the explosions of the buildings in Moscow and Dagestan but I have information about it. “Even if he exists, you understand what methods could have been used on him in captivity,” said a junior officer, who asked not to be named.Colonel Yakov Firsov of the Ministry of Defence said on the record: “The (Chechen) bandits feel their end is near and so they are using all manner of dirty tricks in the information war This is a provocation This is rubbish The Russian armed forces protect the people.

The bearded captive acknowledges as his own papers displayed by the Chechens that identify him as a “Senior Lieutenant, Armed Special Services, General Headquarters for Special Forces of the Russian Federation”.The Ministry of Defence was checking yesterday whetherthere was indeed such a GRU officer. The Independent has obtained a videotape on which a Russian officer, captured by the Chechens, “confesses” that Russian special services committed the Moscow apartment-block bombings that ignited the latest war in Chechnya and propelled Vladimir Putin into the Kremlin. The Independent has obtained a videotape on which a Russian officer, captured by the Chechens, “confesses” that Russian special services committed the Moscow apartment-block bombings that ignited the latest war in Chechnya and propelled Vladimir Putin into the Kremlin.
On the video, shot by a Turkish journalist last month before Grozny was finally cut off by Russian forces, the captured Russian identifies himself as Alexei Galtin of the GRU (Russian military intelligence service). “The Chechens will clear Grozny with their own hands.”Yeltsin said he believed that by the end of the war, Chechnya would remain a part of Russia, “without bandits.”Asked about the Russian election scheduled for March, Yeltsin said he did not believe the Communists would make a comeback. “They will not come back, no, they will not,” Yeltsin said with a wave of his hand.Yeltsin spoke during a ceremony at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem’s walled Old City Yeltsin is on a private Holy Land pilgrimage..