THE BOSTON GLOBE
Monday, March 16 1992

By Paul Quinn-Judge.

Stepanakert [Now Hankendi -- Ed.], Nagorno-Karabagh -- Troops of the former Soviet army are continuing to fight and die in Nagorno-Karabagh, despite claim by the Commonwealth of Independent States' high command that they have been withdrawn.

The last Commonwealth unit in Nagorno-Karabagh, the 366th Motorized Rigiment, was officially pulled out last week. But a fair sprinkling of non-Armenian troops can be seen in and around Stepanakert [Hankendi -- Ed.], the Armenian-held capital of the disputed enclave.

They are serving in tank crews,repairing military equipment, visiting comrades in the hospital. Some claim to be half-Armenian,despite their blond hair. All, however, give or take orders in Russian,not Armenian.

And all are described as volunteers, fighting for cause, not high salaries.

They are like Valery, a captain from Mogilev, Belarus. A veteran of fighting in Somalia and an officer of the elite airborne, Valery-who would not give his family name- is now battalion commander of a new Armenian unit.

Then there is Yury Nikolayevich, a cheery but cautious lieutenant colonel said to have been the deputy commander of the 366th regiment.

Yury Nikolayevich still wears his uniform. He refuses to give his full name or talk about his current role.

Armenian officials say that Yury Nikolayevich went over to the Armenian fighters last week with a large part of the regiment's military hardware.

The fighters are also people like the unnamed Russian soldier who was killed last Thursday along with his Armenian comrade when their armored personnel carrier hit an Azerbaijani land mine.

Valery plans to spend at least the next three years here. At the moment, he is receiving only food and accomodation Karabagh Armenians,he says. But sometime soon,he expects to sign a formal contract.

He refers to the Azerbaijani fighters as "dukhi", the Soviet army slang for Afghan mujahideen. Most are savages, he says.

He believes that Islam has to be checked here in Karabagh. "If not," he says, "I'll have to fight them in Belarus." And he is now training Armenian Karabagh's first border unit, made up, he says, of Armenians who had served in the Soviet airborne, marines and border forces...

Across the Caucasus, and in other hot spots like Moldova, local political activists are raiding military arsenals...

Last week, Armenian militants took Commonwealth officers hostage in the town of Artik after an abortive raid on a military base.

In most cases, the militants and senior officers admit, the raids are an inside job.

The Artik raid was "obviously a foul-up," said an official of the Dashnak party, the militant Armenian group that is spearheading the fight in Karabagh. "No one ever just seizes weapons: You always buy off someone inside the barracks. Obviously, the deal went wrong."