–KEEPING THE AIRWAYS OPEN.

Like the republic’s physical territory, Chechnya’s broadcast airwaves continue to elude the federal government’s drive to consolidate its control. On the evening of February 3 the underground separatist government succeeded in repeatedly airing a 20-minute television speech by its president Aslan Maskhadov, calling for noncooperation with the federal government’s March referendum and promising military escalation in the spring. The broadcast was visible in at least two districts in eastern Chechnya along the border with Dagestan.