POLITICAL GROUNDSWELL AGAINST WAR IN CHECHNYA.

A record 25,000 to 30,000 people from Grozny and its environs demonstrated in the Chechen capital Sunday, February 4. According to Russian authorities, some 5,000 people from Grozny itself rallied again yesterday for Chechen independence and the withdrawal of Russian troops. The latter demonstration also protested against Moscow-installed leader Doku Zavgayev and in support of President Dzhokhar Dudayev, whose portraits the crowd carried. The demonstrations in Grozny capped smaller pro-independence rallies held in preceding days in the Chechen capital and in Gudermes, Shali, Argun, and other Chechen towns and villages. (6)

In Moscow, the leader of the " Russia is Our Home" bloc in the Duma, Sergei Belyaev, called at a news conference for peace negotiations with the participation of the Dudayev side and the withdrawal of Russian troops. The appeal of Governor Boris Nemtsov and the Nizhny Novgorod regional legislature for "tens of millions" of signatures to force an end to the war in Chechnya received fresh support February 4 and 5 from Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky, Russia’s Democratic Choice leader Yegor Gaidar, the Yekaterinburg city Duma, the Association of Russia’s Southern Cities, Tatarstan’s president Mintimer Shaimiyev, and political leaders and public organizations in the Bashkortostan, Kabardino-Balkar, and Adygei republics. The trend prompted Federation Council chairman Yegor Stroyev to remark on television yesterday that "all of Russia is now ready to sign for an end to the war in Chechnya." (7)

Prosecutor’s Office to Investigate Privatization Process.