KULIKOV SOFTENS HIS TONE ON CHECHNYA.

"Chechnya is a territory on which Russian legislation is not in force. Almost one in ten of all murders is committed here, as are two-thirds of all acts of terrorism, and one-fifth of all bandit raids and kidnappings in the Northern Caucasus," Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov told journalists yesterday. (NTV, ORT, January 27) This was Kulikov’s first major statement since his controversial call for preemptive strikes against Chechen bases. (See the Monitor, January 7). Kulikov later claimed that call had been misinterpreted. Yesterday, he made no mention of preemptive strikes. Nor did he mention the promise he made at the end of last year to send special military detachments to reinforce the borders between Chechnya and the rest of Russian proper. The inability of both Moscow and Grozny to exert control over the region has spurred many locals in Dagestan and Stavropol Krai to form vigilante units. (NTV, ORT, January 27)

First Protest Meeting in Karachaevo-Cherkessia’s History.