…WHILE HIS TROOPS CONTINUE OPERATIONS ON THE GROUND.

Yeltsin’s insistence on Doku Zavgayev’s participation is just one obstacle to talks. In Chechnya itself, Russian helicopters continued to strafe the district center Urus-Martan May 11-13, bringing the civilian casualty toll to 6 killed and more than 30 wounded, including a group of preschool children. At least 4 civilians were killed and a dozen wounded near Argun when a Russian armor column shelled a village in reprisal for a failed ambush by a Chechen detachment. The resistance for its part killed at least 8 Russian soldiers in skirmishes in and around Grozny over the weekend and reentered in force the supposedly Russian-controlled district center Vedeno. (Russian and Western agencies, May 11-13)

Primakov Envisions Revived "Center" — But Trade Trends Indicate Otherwise.