MASKHADOV GUARANTEES SAFE WITHDRAWAL OF RUSSIAN TROOPS.

Chechen prime minister Aslan Maskhadov yesterday ordered the high command of the Chechen armed forces to guarantee the security of the Russian units withdrawing from Chechnya. Federal troops must, the document states, be withdrawn by January 27. (RTR, December 3) Chechen deputy premier Movladi Udugov told the Monitor: "To avoid provocations, we will guard the Russian troops ourselves. We see Boris Yeltsin’s order on the withdrawal of the 205th and 101st brigades of Russian troops from Chechnya as a sign that Russia’s policy really is changing towards peace. The fact that the Ivan Rybkin’s appointment as Security Council secretary did not lead to a change in Russian policy tells us that Yeltsin is still in charge. This gives us hope for stability. But we are not yet convinced that Moscow will not revert to her former aggressive policy. We are therefore determined not to give the Russian ‘war party’ any pretext to start a new war."

Russian Miners Continue Strike.