Chechen deal lifts Yeltsin's poll hopes talks

Rebels capitalise on proximity of election to negotiate truce

Boris Yeltsin last night pulled off one of the most audacious and unlikely triumphs of his presidency after bringing the leader of the Chechen rebels to the Kremlin and signing a ceasefire agreement within hours of his arrival.

It means his chances of staying in the Kremlin have been given a crucial boost three weeks before the election, courtesy of the same Chechen leadership that he long vowed to wipe out, branding them bandits and murderers. The irony was overshadowed by the fact that Mr Yeltsin appears to have made concrete progress in fulfilling his election promise to end the 17-month conflict.

The deal, which happened so fast it seems certain to have been planned, came two hours after Mr Yeltsin sat down in the Kremlin with Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, successor to Dzhokhar Dudayev, who was assassinated last month. It comes into force on Saturday.

The meeting followed a decision by Chechen commanders to allow Mr Yandarbiyev to go to Moscow, even though it is the headquarters of the same president the Chechens blame for destroying Grozny and killing many thousands of their soldiers and citizens.

Dressed in battle fatigues but armed only with promises of safe passage, the 44-year-old literary scholar and Chechen "president" flew to Moscow yesterday morning after being escorted to the airport by scores of rebel fighters. Police kept journalists at bay as he and his four-man delegation, with five bodyguards, landed at Moscow's airport for VIPs, Vnukovo-2, and drove to the Kremlin, where they were welcomed by Mr Yeltsin. In a bizarre twist, the delegates handed in their guns and were placed under the protection of the presidential guard, headed by Mr Yeltsin's confidant, General Alexander Korzhakov, earlier a strong advocate of the use of force against Chechnya.

Last night Russian and Chechen officials were working on details of the accord, which is expected to continue throughout today. Although there is still a risk the talks will founder, they are the biggest breakthrough in the conflict since last summer's failed peace efforts.

Although Mr Yeltsin is hated in much of Chechnya, the separatists' decision to talk with him now makes it clear they would rather see him in power than the Communists, who deported the Chechen nation to Central Asia in 1944. It means the Communist presidential candidate, Gennady Zyuganov, who claims to be moderate, is being held to account for the atrocities of Stalin.

A deal was possible because neither side had anything to lose but much to gain. As an insurance against an immediate breakdown, both agreed beforehand to keep the question of Chechnya's independence off the table for the time being, concentrating on accords struck during the talks last summer.

Chechen leaders know they can fight a guerrilla war indefinitely but that it will be difficult to win outright. With an election looming, chances of squeezing a favourable deal out of the Kremlin are at their best. And if the talks come to nothing, they will still have been able to use the break in hostilities to rearm and re- occupy Russian-held areas.

As the decree was signed by his Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Mr Yeltsin described it as historic, saying "we have resolved the key problem of peace in Chechnya". Asked how he could be sure it would stick, he replied: "We are unanimous." At that, Mr Yandarbiyev joked that his side was "even more unanimous".

Whether the same can be said of some Russian generals is in doubt. Hard- line elements have long been suspected of continuing hostilities in Chechnya for economic reasons or because they are determined to see the Chechens crushed.

When the talks, brokered by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, were announced last week, the Defence Minister, Pavel Grachev, was furious the war was being wound down before the Chechens' final defeat.

Yesterday he moderated his position slightly, saying that the army supported the President's initiative.

But his words were ambiguous: "One can hardly convey one's stand better than it was done by the President: bandit-killers and professional mercenaries from abroad must be rendered harmless."