BEIJING — Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin won China's backing for his war in Chechnya on Friday as Russian forces prepared to bomb and shell the separatist republic's capital even though as many as 40,000 civilians still live there.
Concluding two days of talks in Beijing, Yeltsin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin issued a communique recognizing the territorial integrity of each other's nation.
"The Chinese side reaffirms that the Chechen question is purely Russia's internal affair," the agreement said, adding that Beijing backs Moscow's "actions to strike at terrorist and separatist forces."
Yeltsin, who lashed out at President Clinton a day earlier for his criticism of the war in Chechnya, returned Friday to Moscow and the quiet of his country estate.
Russia sent its troops into Chechnya in October in a bid to recover from its defeat in the 1994-96 Chechen war and retake the mountainous territory. Moscow has branded the rebels "terrorists" and blamed them for the bombings of apartment buildings that killed about 300 people in September.
Using massive firepower, the 100,000 Russian troops in Chechnya have consolidated their hold on the lowlands as the rebels have pulled back toward the Caucasus Mountains in the south.
Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, who has been leading the military resistance to Russia, was reported to have slipped out of Grozny, the Chechen capital, despite Russia's claim that its forces have surrounded the city.
Russia has given civilians in Grozny until today to leave or risk death when massive shelling and bombing of the city begin. Moscow has not specified when the attacks will begin, but its warning has drawn strong criticism from Clinton and European leaders.
On Friday, at a summit of European Union leaders in Helsinki, Finland, the 15-nation bloc condemned Russia's bombardment of Chechen cities and its treatment of the entire population as terrorists. The leaders also warned Moscow that much of the alliance's $170-million-plus annual budget for aid and cooperative programs with Russia is at dire risk unless Moscow ceases its "totally unacceptable" behavior in Chechnya.
"I don't think any of our citizens in the European Union think we can proceed with Russia on the basis of business as usual," said external affairs commissioner Chris Patten, noting that EU budget talks are set for next week and as much as $140 million of the earmarked aid could be at stake for Moscow.
