REACTIONS TO ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT.

The commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, Lt. Gen. Anatoly Romanov, blamed the attempt on the life of Security Council secretary and presidential envoy in Chechnya, Oleg Lobov, on forces loyal to Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev. Romanov said that his patience had run out and that he and his forces will respond appropriately. Russian president Boris Yeltsin condemned the car bomb explosion as a "terrorist act," but stopped short of making particular threats. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin added that no special steps would be taken until the Russian side in Chechnya investigated the incident. Dudayev’s spokesman Movladi Udugov condemned the explosion as a provocation and said that it might have been perpetrated by "forces in Moscow who wish to continue the Chechen war." Chechen chief of staff Aslan Maskhadov stressed that none of his soldiers is responsible for the terrorist act. Investigators from the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs say that they have proof that the bomb explosion was a deliberate, carefully prepared attempt against Lobov’s life. (1)

Tense Waiting in Chechnya.