-Caveat Lector- Russians Pretend To Storm Village By MARINA BABKINA .c The Associated Press MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Armed members of a Russian adventure club stormed a village in Belarus, holding its residents hostage for more than two hours and beating resisters - all without warning anyone that it was a game. Some 125 members of the Siberian-based Berkut adventure and survival club - youths aged 11-17 led by 10 ex-servicemen - pretended to invade the village of Nikolayevka in eastern Belarus on June 30, police spokesman Igor Grishkevich said Tuesday. The attackers, clad in black uniforms and armed with tear gas, air guns and replicas of Kalashnikov rifles, rounded up terrified residents and brought them to a schoolyard, Grishkevich said. Those who resisted were beaten, then tied up or handcuffed. Village administrators were also tied up and kept prisoner in their offices. The only resident who escaped capture was an 86-year-old paralyzed woman, who was allowed to stay at home. ``I saw them seize my neighbor,'' an elderly man told Belarusian state television Monday night. ``He was working in his yard, refused to go with them, and they kicked him several times, and were cursing at him.'' Another villager, a middle-aged woman who also was not identified, said: ``I was so frightened. I had never experienced such horror before.'' The assailants blocked all roads to the village and detained passing motorists. After the operation ended more than two hours later, the leader of the Berkut club, Anatoly Slivonchik, told villagers they had been the unwitting participants in ``a kind of training,'' Grishkevich said. Slivonchik paid an undisclosed amount of money to a man whose arm had been injured in the scuffle, and promised ``cases of vodka'' for the rest of the village. The group then tried to stage a similar, larger operation in the military town of Kiselevichi in the neighboring Mogilev region, but were detained, a regional police said. Slivonchik was charged with ``aggravated hooliganism'' - a crime punishable by up to five years in prison, Grishkevich said. The rest of the club members were ordered to leave Belarus. Police in both Nikolayevka and Kiselevichi said the club leaders had told them on the day before the attack that they planned to hold a training exercise, but had given no details about what it would entail. Slivonchik, who was born in the Svetlogorsk region where Nikolayevka is located, said the exercise was staged to mark the 55th anniversary of Belarus' liberation from Nazi occupation. The Svetlogorsk region was the starting point of a large-scale operation launched by Soviet forces against the Nazis. Belarus marked the victory over Nazi Germany on July 3, one of the nation's most revered holidays. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
