* LIFE IN THE CAUCASUS:

Kidnapers want a $2 million ransom for ValentinVlasov, Boris Yeltsin’s personal representative to Chechnya, abducted theretwo months ago by persons unknown. …Chechen authorities declared a stateof emergency and curfew after the head of the national security service anda close supporter of intransigent rebel leader Salman Raduev wereassassinated June 21. …In neighboring Dagestan, a bomb wounded but failedto kill the deputy minister of internal affairs, riding in a car in thecapital the day before parliamentary elections.