THE SECESSION QUESTION.

The September 6 issue of Izvestia carried comments by the well-known polling specialist Yury Levada of the All Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) concerning Russian attitudes toward the secession of Chechnya. “From time to time,” Levada observed, “we ask people how they would relate to the separation of Chechnya from Russia. A majority of respondents are prepared to let Chechnya go to put an end to the fighting. Only 20 percent want at any cost not to permit the independence of Chechnya. But a majority are prepared to let Chechnya go, not because they love the Chechens but because the existing situation is unbearable.”