Moscow, 21 November 1996 (RFE/RL) - Russian news agencies report that Russian Security Council secretary Ivan Rybkin today left Moscow for talks with top Chechen separatist officials.
The talks are expected to take place in the Ingushetia, a Russian republic neighboring separatist Chechnya. Itar-Tass quotes a government official in Ingushetia, Musa Bekbuzarov, as saying the talks will take place outside the capital, Nazran, at the home of Ingushetia's President Ruslan Aushev.
Rybkin will meet the deputy prime minister of the self-declared Chechen separatist government, Movladi Udugov and Chechen separatist security advisor Akhmed Zakayev just a few days after a string of attacks on Russian forces around Chechnya.
Russia's Security Council press service declined to comment on the trip.
Rybkin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin discussed Chechnya yesterday and the situation in the breakaway region was also on the agenda of a meeting of the new Russian Consultative Council today. Chernomyrdin chaired the meeting and Rybkin attended it.
A peace accord agreed between Moscow and the separatists in August has yet to lead to a permanent political settlement. Both sides say they hope for a series of accords before Chechen presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for January.
The talks are expected to take place in the Ingushetia, a Russian republic neighboring separatist Chechnya. Itar-Tass quotes a government official in Ingushetia, Musa Bekbuzarov, as saying the talks will take place outside the capital, Nazran, at the home of Ingushetia's President Ruslan Aushev.
Rybkin will meet the deputy prime minister of the self-declared Chechen separatist government, Movladi Udugov and Chechen separatist security advisor Akhmed Zakayev just a few days after a string of attacks on Russian forces around Chechnya.
Russia's Security Council press service declined to comment on the trip.
Rybkin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin discussed Chechnya yesterday and the situation in the breakaway region was also on the agenda of a meeting of the new Russian Consultative Council today. Chernomyrdin chaired the meeting and Rybkin attended it.
A peace accord agreed between Moscow and the separatists in August has yet to lead to a permanent political settlement. Both sides say they hope for a series of accords before Chechen presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for January.