Chechen rebels insisted today that Russian troops withdraw from their secessionist republic by July 1 - two weeks later than their previous demand.
On the second day of talks aimed at enforcing a faltering cease-fire, the Chechens also insisted that Russian troops remove all roadblocks around their towns by Friday and that local elections scheduled for June 16 be postponed.Fighting has persisted in Chechnya despite a cease-fire that began Saturday under an agreement reached between President Boris Yeltsin and Chechen rebel leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.
Yeltsin has staked a lot on the cease-fire's success, since he is under pressure to end the unpopular war in the run up to Russia's June 16 presidential elections.
The widow of slain Chechen rebel leader Dzhokhar Dudyaev said today she would vote for Yeltsin because he could protect "democracy and freedom in Russia."
"I hope that Yeltsin sincerely wishes to stop the war and establish peace in Chechnya," Alla Dudayeva said. Her husband was killed in a Russian airstrike in April.
The leading Chechen delegate at today's talks, Said-Khasan Abumuslimov, said the rebels softened earlier demands of a pullout by June 15, but the Russians are unlikely to agree to either proposal.
The Chechens insisted today that local elections scheduled for June 16 be postponed. Abumuslimov warned that the cease-fire would collapse if the regional elections go ahead before Russian troops are withdrawn.
The Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified Chechen delegate as saying "full-scale war" would begin if the elections were not canceled.
The first day of talks Tuesday focused on how to begin implementing the truce and freeing prisoners, said Vyacheslav Mikhailov, head of the Russian negotiating team.
Both sides accuse the other of holding hundreds of captives, including 26 Russian servicemen seized by rebels on Saturday and 10 Chechens captured a day earlier.
The talks were being held under heavy security in the parliament building in Nazran, the capital of the Russian republic of Ingushetia, which neighbors Chechnya.
Rebels attacked Russian posts across the republic 11 times Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, killing at least one Chechen and wounding three Russians, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported today.