MOSCOW’S "ZERO OPTION" PROPOSAL BRINGS CHECHEN TALKSTO A HALT.

After making progress on a variety of militaryand political issues, Moscow’s suggestion that the leaders ofits puppet regime in Chechnya and Dzhokhar Dudayev simultaneouslyresign to set the stage for new elections brought the talks toa glum halt July 2. The two sides failed to agree on when andwhether to hold more talks and on who would participate if talkscontinued. As a result, the question of whether the fighting,which has been simmering over the last ten days, would again exploderemained open.