Russians File Treason Against Chechen Boss

Russia charged the leader of the breakaway region of Chechnya with treason Wednesday as Russian troops intensified their assault on its capital, Grozny, and small towns in the countryside.

The federal prosecutor’s office issued a warrant for the arrest of Dzhokhar Dudayev, more than three years after he declared independence for his Connecticut-sized region on Russia’s southern border. The charge carries a possible death sentence, but Dudayev has so far proven resourceful at eluding Russian attempts to hunt him down.

In Chechnya, the Russians launched a fierce attack by artillery and helicopter gunship on the town of Samashky, where Chechen fighters earlier had shot at a Russian tank column.