FIGHTING CONTINUES IN CHECHNYA.

Although Russian troops staged a V-E Day parade near the Grozny airport, fighting continued May 9-10. Chechen commanders said that their forces would fight on until the Russians withdraw. On May 9 and spoiling the V-E Day mood, General Nikolai Yegorov, the Russian commander in the region, told Interfax that the situation in Chechnya was getting worse, noting that 19 more Russian soldiers had died since April 29. The Russian media played up the fact that a Congress of Chechen People had begun meeting May 8 to discuss new elections for the region in October; the Moscow radios did not note that this body, organized by Russian forces, enjoys little support there. Meanwhile, Interfax reported that Federal Security Service chief Sergei Stepashin had discovered that Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev had close ties with some unnamed Russian political and business leaders. Izvestiya on May 7 had said that Stepashin should either identify these people or he should stop trying to inflame the situation by talking about such links.

Jurists Call On World Leaders To Condemn Chechnya Operation.