ISTANBUL, Turkey -- World leaders ended a 54-nation European security summit on Friday by calling for a political settlement with international help in Chechnya and accepting that conflicts in one state are the legitimate concern of all.
Their final declaration called for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to have both a political and a humanitarian role in Chechnya -- a major concession by Russia, which had previously rejected any outside involvement in its seven-week military crackdown on the rebel Caucasian republic."We agree that a political solution is essential and that the assistance of the OSCE would contribute to achieving that goal. We welcome the agreement of the Russian Federation to a visit by the (OSCE) Chairman in Office to the region," it said.
A British official called this mission "a foot in the door" but, despite the words on paper, Moscow pressed ahead with its relentless offensive on Friday, making clear there would be no letup until Islamic guerrillas are driven out of the territory.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek, the OSCE chairman, said he hoped to visit Chechnya soon but gave no date.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said there had been moments when he feared the summit would collapse and called the outcome a "respectable compromise." He forecast more hard bargaining with Moscow over the terms of the OSCE mission.
The leaders also signed a landmark arms control treaty for Europe, updating limits on armed forces and heavy equipment set in the dying days of the Cold War in 1990.
President Clinton signed the agreements for the United States and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov for Russia after President Boris Yeltsin flew home early, having told fellow leaders on Thursday they had no right to criticize Russia's military onslaught on "bandits and killers" in Chechnya.
In deference to Moscow, the leaders said in their final declaration: "We fully acknowledge the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and condemn terrorism in all its forms."
Russia, for its part, has agreed to cut the number of troops stationed in Georgia and withdraw all its troops from Moldova by 2003.
Russia and Georgia made their joint statement in a Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty signed Friday. Russia's agreement to pull its troops from Moldova came later in the summit's final declaration.
Clinton, meanwhile, left Turkey, for neighboring Greece where he may face rowdy anti-American protests. Clinton's Athens visit was cut short in the face of Greek protests.
He said he was going to Greece to discuss "what we have in common" and he was not concerned by the prospect of protests.
As Russian warplanes pounded rebel targets, parcels of humanitarian aid reached some refugees who have fled Chechnya in the village of Verkhny Achakuli in Ingushetia, west of Chechnya.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, pledged more help for the refugees, who total around 200,000, during a whistle-stop trip to the region on Thursday.
Interfax news agency said Russian warplanes carried out about 60 airstrikes in the past 24 hours, destroying arms stores and infrastructure used by the guerrillas whom Moscow blames for a series of bomb blasts and accuses of trying to destabilize the North Caucasus region.
Around 150 fighters were killed in the strikes on targets in villages southwest of the regional capital Grozny, Interfax said Friday.
"The operation in Chechnya is progressing according to the plan we have worked out and we have received no new orders," the agency quoted Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo as saying.