IN BRIEF: 'Common ground' on Chechnya

'Common ground' on Chechnya

Grozny - Russian negotiators at peace talks in Chechnya said they and the rebels had found common ground on the most sensitive issue - the future status of the region. "We discussed several wordings of Chechnya's status and chose one to be considered at talks - a very short wording which consists of only four lines," the chief Russian negotiator, Vyacheslav Mikhailov, said.

Moscow, which does not recognise Dzhokhar Dudayev's independence declaration of 1991, has so far insisted that Chechnya should remain part of Russia and have self-determination only through Russia's constitution. Reuter