CHECHNYA ROUNDUP.

Chechnya’s Supreme Soviet yesterday elected Doku Zavgayev as "leader of the republic," in addition to the position of prime minister the same body gave him last week; and appointed Beslan Gantemirov as deputy prime minister. According to Zavgayev’s office, the post of "leader" is equivalent to that of president and has been introduced pending elections in the republic. The Supreme Soviet decided to constitute itself formally as a parliamentary institution, with committees and other trappings. The previous day the Russian authorities had announced the creation of a Chechnya police department, to be headed by a Russian deputy minister of internal affairs.

These measures add to recent indications that Moscow seeks to transfer to local collaborators some of the burden of administering and policing the areas under its control, even at the cost of using discredited Soviet-era figures for want of others. But the collaborators continue to squabble uncontrollably among themselves. (5)

Other events in Chechnya yesterday included a pro-Dudayev demonstration, additional Russian military casualties, and the arrest of a Chechen scholar by Russian authorities. (6)

Shaposhnikov Takes Over Aeroflot.