OMRI DAILY DIGEST

No. 23, Part I, 1 February 1996

Besides "a small group of operatives" in the Kremlin, all of Russia is against the war in Chechnya, Yabloko leader Grigorii Yavlinskii wrote in Izvestiya of 1 February. He proposed a "clear and simple" plan to end the conflict: first withdrawing all Russian troops from the breakaway republic; then letting Dudaev and Zavgaev work out a "non-agression pact" among themselves toward gradual demilitarization; and ultimately holding a referendum in Chechnya to decide the republic's future status. Yavlinskii also invited political parties, trade unions, human rights groups, and other anti-war organizations to convene a Moscow conference on peaceful solutions to the Chechen conflict, which "could not be ignored" by the authorities. -- Laura Belin