CHECHENS MAKE CONCESSIONS AT GROZNY TALKS.

Chechen negotiator Usman Imayev said that he had reached agreement with the Russian side on all military issues, Russian radio reported June 22. Umayev said that the Chechens were prepared to renounce terrorism and to help find Shamil Basayev and others responsible for the raid on Budennovsk. He said that the two sides had agreed for a phased withdrawal of Russian troops; as that occurred, Chechen units would turn in their arms and release Russian POWs. Despite the cease-fire Moscow agreed to earlier this week, Russian forces shelled several Chechen villages near the Daghestan border June 21. That action came after local Russian commander Gen. Anatoly Kulikov threatened to renew military actions if the Chechens did not hand over Shamil Basayev, Interfax reported June 21. But the statement of Kulikov, who participated in the talks June 21, was disowned by Moscow, and Chernomyrdin’s aides said that the talks between the two sides would continue. Like many other Russian military men, Kulikov has concluded that the Chechens are using the ceasefire to regroup for future attacks. Other Moscow officials said that Moscow would step up its aid to the region and that the city of Moscow would bear much of the cost, Moscow’s Echo radio said June 21. Meanwhile, Federal Security Service deputy director Igor Mezhakov said that his organization was looking for Basayev and would kill the Chechen leader if he tried to resist, Moscow radio reported. One person whom the Russian authorities do not seem to be looking for is Fred Cuny, the American aid worker who has been missing in Chechnya since April 9.

Yeltsin Decrees National Day of Mourning.