CONSTITUTIONAL COURT MORE SPLIT ON CHECHNYA THAN EARLIER REPORTED.

Seven and possibly eight of the 18 justices of the RussianConstitutional Court disagreed with the court’s approval of Yeltsin’sdecision to intervene in Chechnya, Izvestiya reported August2. Those who believed that Yeltsin’s decrees were unconstitutionaldid not challenge the right of Moscow to take action, only theway in which it was done. Justice Nikolai Vitruk told the paperthat "we will never get free from the totalitarian nooseif we do not come to understand that the principle of the supremacyof law must be taken as the basis for action even in the mostdifficult situations."

Airborne Commander: No One Said We’d Have to Fight in Chechnya.