NEWS
January 6, 1997 | From Associated Press
The last Russian soldiers left the rebel republic of Chechnya on Sunday, ending a humiliating military involvement that began more than two years ago. The pullout, part of last year's peace agreement between Moscow and Chechen separatists, clears the way for general elections in Chechnya on Jan. 27. The Russian ministries of interior and defense, which together had more than 30,000 troops in the southern republic, said Sunday that the pullout is complete.
NEWS
January 30, 1997 | VANORA BENNETT, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Now that he has officially won elections that Russia has grudgingly accepted, Aslan Maskhadov, separatist Chechnya's president-elect, wants to build a state that Moscow may not welcome but with which it can probably live, he said Wednesday. "Maskhadov is not a fan of tough decisions or abrupt actions," his spokesman, Mayerbek Vachagayev, said as Maskhadov's 64.8% vote of support was being made official. "There will be no revolutionary decrees, but an evolutionary course of development."
NEWS
January 24, 1997 | VANORA BENNETT, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Elections that were supposed to confirm peace in the separatist region of Chechnya--after almost two years of war with Russia's army--are turning into a violent free-for-all of mysterious kidnappings, vicious political mud-slinging and threats of further armed conflict. Ruslan S.
NEWS
December 15, 1995 | From Associated Press
Rebels seized key buildings in Chechnya's second-largest city Thursday and fought advancing Russian armored troops on the first day of elections to replace the republic's secessionist government. As many as 600 rebels were engaged in a fierce battle with federal troops in and around Gudermes, 20 miles east of the Chechen capital, Grozny, Russian officials said. Helicopter gunships and artillery hit rebel positions on the outskirts of Gudermes in some of the worst fighting in Chechnya in months.
NEWS
January 28, 1997 | VANORA BENNETT, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Sensing freedom after two centuries of rule by Moscow, Chechens flocked to the polls Monday to vote in elections that they hope will confirm the end of the war that Russia waged against their separatist leaders for almost two years and that would bring independence one step closer. Donning their best but threadbare clothes, the people of this tiny Muslim region turned their day of decision-making into a party.
NEWS
January 29, 1997 | VANORA BENNETT, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Aslan Maskhadov, the military commander who helped bring peace to separatist Chechnya, proclaimed himself the new president of the southern republic Tuesday on the basis of leaked, partial election results. Surrounded by armed guards and solemn advisors in fur hats, Maskhadov--the Chechen candidate whom Moscow preferred--swept into a postelection meeting with journalists and listened impassively as his spokesman announced his victory. "Today we start the first press conference with Mr.