LEBED BACK IN NORTH CAUCASUS TO DISCUSS CHECHEN PEACE PROCESS.

Kremlin security supremo Aleksandr Lebed flew this morning to Nazran, capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, to attend a conference of heads of the Russian republics and regions that border on Chechnya. Also attending the meeting, which will focus on what regional leaders can do to facilitate the Chechen peace process, are Chechen opposition leaders Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and Aslan Maskhadov, and leaders of Krasnodar and Stavropol krais, as well as the republics of Adygeya and Kalmykia. (Interfax, September 26; Itar-Tass, September 27) The meeting is organized by Ingush president Ruslan Aushev, a strong Lebed ally; both men are former Soviet generals who saw action in Afghanistan.

Gubernatorial Elections Continue in Russia.