RUSSIANS DEBATE CHECHEN FUTURE, TALKS TO RESUME JULY 20.

Thethree day recess in the Grozny peace talks has sparked a publicdebate in Moscow about what Moscow should do next. Some Russians,including the military and the Cossacks, publicly declare thatthey want a resumption of the fighting until a victorious conclusion.Others, such as Federation Council deputy Nikolai Gonchar, saythey would like to dismember Chechnya with portions of that republicbeing transferred to Stavropol kray, Ostankino television reportedJuly 17. Still others, including commentators in Segodnya andMoskovsky komsomolets, argued that Russia should allowChechnya to become independent, either because it poses no threatto Russia or because the Chechens will never stop fighting. Inthe July 18 Segodnya, however, military observer PavelFelgengauer said that the Chechens do not seem to realize that"the Russians will never leave" even though the currentRussian government does not seem "capable of following anykind of consistent policy in the Caucasus for any length of time."Yeltsin offered his own judgment on all this: In his televisionappearance, Yeltsin said that "we found a solution, of courseour own solution, which will be offered to the Chechen side." But one thing which did not change was the fact that againon July 18 there was no word on the fate of Fred Cuny, the Americanaid worker who has been missing in the region since April 9.