CHECHNYA NEGOTIATIONS.

Russian chief negotiator Vyacheslav Mikhailov said that he had failed to convince the Chechen side to suspend the creation of local self-defense detachments loyal to Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev. Mikhailov said that he does not see the need for such detachments in those localities where the authorities (meaning federal and Moscow-installed Chechen) have already created law enforcement organs. But Chechen chief of staff Aslan Maskhadov said that refusal to accept the Chechen self- defense detachments is a violation of the peace accord, which provides for their existence. Dudayev’s spokesman Movladi Udugov said that the Russian side is bringing the situation in Chechnya back to where it was in December 1994, before the onset of the war.

Dudayev’s supporters announced their intention to hold consultations with all Chechen political parties in order to create conditions for elections and for the withdrawal of Russian troops.

Meanwhile, deputy secretary of Russia’s security council Vladimir Rubanov announced that the finance ministry has allotted a further 10 billion rubles for buying back arms from Chechen fighters. In Rubanov’s words, this money will be enough to buy about 15,000 firearms. (5)

Khasbulatov To Chechnya.