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Russian and Chechen Military Chiefs Scheduled to Meet Thursday


Moscow, June 24 (RFE/RL) -- Russia's commander in Chechnya, Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, and Chechen military chief Aslan Maskhadov reportedly will resume talks Thursday (June 27) on implementing a June 10 military accord on withdrawing Russian troops and disarming separatist fighters.

Earlier reports had said talks on the accord would be held today.

However, Interfax says Chechen and Russian negotiators did meet today at an undisclosed location and exchanged lists of prisoners captured by both sides during the conflict. Interfax quotes Russian commission head Sergei Osipov as saying that the Russians handed over a list of nearly 1,100 people they believe are held by Chechen separatists, while the Chechens gave a list of 1,322 missing people.

Attempts to negotiate an end to the war, which has claimed more than 30,000 lives since President Boris Yeltsin sent in troops to put down Chechnya's independence bid, are moving slowly. The latest round of peace talks Saturday yielded no reported progress.

Each side has blamed the other for the lack of progress and a truce in breakaway Chechnya has been widely ignored. One Russian serviceman was reportedly killed and two others injured in Grozny late yesterday in an attack on a convoy by Chechen separatists. there has been no word on any possible Chechen casualties.
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