The rebels operating in Chechnya rely on fixed caches of arms, ammunition and supplies, which makes Russian operations to eliminate these caches all the more important. Russian forces conducted five special operations in Chechnya on 12 June, locating ten caches. These contained 28 assault rifles, carbines and pistols, as well as 120 artillery shells, 29 mines, 14 grenade launchers, some 200 hand grenades, over 22 pounds of explosives and almost 44,000 cartridges. 

A "mothballed" rebel camp was also discovered that day near Tangi, in Chechnya's Urus-Martan district, masked so well that it could not be spotted from the air, nor could one walk within 10 meters and see anything. The camp consisted of a reinforced dug-out, four tents, several canopies for horses and cargoes and a cache of arms and ammo. The cache also contained medicine, foodstuffs, waterproof suits, sleeping bags, an external antenna and about 300m of field cable used for remote activation of landmines. 

Within the past few days, Federal paratroopers found and eliminated two rebel caches during special operations in southern Chechnya, near the Sayasan village in the Vedeno district of Chechnya. The caches contained three antitank guided missiles, two large caliber machine-guns, 19 portable grenade launcher rounds, 40,000 hand grenades, over 2,500 7.62mm cartridges and almost 5,000 5.45mm cartridges. Paratroopers also destroyed two guerrilla transmitters near the town of Argun and seized 10 portable radio stations from a rebel cache. 

The total haul for the May operation in Mesker-Yurt, Shali district, was finally calculated; 53 arms and ammunition caches containing 67 grenade launchers, 340 grenades, 660 rounds, 137 mines, more than 110,000 cartridges and about 66 pounds of explosives. - Adam Geibel