CHECHEN TALKS RESUME.

Talks between the Russian and Chechendelegations resumed June 28 after a break in which spokesmen forboth sides adopted tougher public positions and acknowledged thatthere would be more problems ahead in resolving political difficulties,Moscow media reported June 27. In related developments, sporadicfighting continued with each side blaming the other for the violence;Yeltsin pledged to back any agreement reached as long as it waswithin the terms of the Russian Constitution and resulted in localelections by November 1995. Russian television late on June 26said that Moscow would now offer Chechnya a Tatarstan-type agreement;the Chechens have rejected that idea in the past. Meanwhile, Moscow’sEcho radio reported June 27 that Russian special forces had committeda large number of crimes in their mopping up work in the Chechentown of Shatoi; the station said some 15 cases had been referredto military prosecutors. A Chechen official noted that there werestill some 720 people missing in action on both sides, Russianradio reported June 27. Among them is Fred Cuny, the Americanaid specialist who has been missing in the region since April9.

Where is Shamil Basayev?