…AND THE CHECHEN CONFLICT.

Asked how long the conflict would continue, Yastrzhembsky prophesied: “I think that the reestablishment of peaceful life in Chechnya will be a rather extended process… If we examine the situation in the West, we see that similar operations can go on for decades. In Northern Ireland, thirty years… in the case of the Basques, many years.” On the subject of the timing of the holding of a referendum on a new pro-Moscow Chechen constitution, Yastrzhembsky affirmed: “I think that in a year’s time from this moment a referendum on the constitution for Chechnya will take place. The parliamentary elections in Russia [to the State Duma] can be combined with a referendum on the constitution for Chechnya.”