Off-Hand Comment Muddles Peace Talks

Talks on ending the war in Chechnya hit a snag Saturday over a Russian negotiator’s remark to reporters, and later adjourned for the day without an expected agreement.

The Russian delegate, Arkady Volsky, was asked Friday night whether Chechnya would remain part of the Russian Federation.

“Where else could it go?” he responded, according to news reports.

That angered the Chechen side, which is trying to win some kind of independence. “Such a crude answer shows, in my opinion, disrespect for the Chechen delegation and for the results achieved by peaceful diplomatic means,” the chief Chechen negotiator, Usman Imayev, said Saturday.

Talks continued Saturday, however, and were to resume today.

Imayev and his Russian counterpart, Vyacheslav Mikhailov, had both reported important progress before Saturday’s talks, and said a final political accord could be signed soon.

The question of Chechnya’s political status has been the chief stumbling block in weeks of talks to end the 7-month war in the breakaway republic.

Russia’s NTV television network reported that President Boris Yeltsin was unhappy with the latest Russian position on Chechnya’s status and ordered Saturday that it be “made tougher.” No details were reported.

The separatists want Moscow to recognize their independence, declared in 1991. Russia insists that Chechnya remain part of the Russian Federation, but concedes that the question may be put aside until after elections and a referendum on a Chechen constitution, planned for the fall.

It remains unclear how agreement could be reached under both constitutions. Some Russian reports have suggested that Chechnya will be allowed to call itself independent while remaining de facto in Russia.

The Chechens have previously opposed any mention of the Russian Constitution in agreements.

Volsky, the Russian delegate, told the ITAR-Tass news agency Saturday’s closed-door talks went smoothly. He said negotiators had been instructed to make no public statements.

Yeltsin sent thousands of troops into Chechnya in December to end the southern republic’s independence drive. Thousands of people have been killed.

Despite a truce announced last month, sporadic fighting continues.

Rebels attacked federal troops’ outposts in the Chechen capital, Grozny, overnight Saturday. Two rebel fighters were killed, the Interfax news agency said.

A Russian soldier was killed when rebels opened fire some 30 times throughout Chechnya, the agency said. The skirmishes were mainly in southern mountain villages.