Chechen Residents Flee Capital in Face of Russian Threat

The streets of Chechnya’s capital were filled with fleeing residents and the roar of raiding jets Wednesday, and neither side in the republic’s civil war gave any sign of heeding Russia’s threat to intervene.

Russian transport planes were bringing troops and weapons to the border of the small, mostly Muslim republic in the Caucasus Mountains, it was reported.

They will be in position to enforce President Boris N. Yeltsin’s ultimatum for the Chechens to stop fighting by today or face Russian intervention.

The fighting pits forces loyal to Chechen President Dzhokar Dudayev, who has declared Chechnya independent from Russia, against rebels whom Dudayev says are armed and led by Moscow.

The conflict is the latest to underline the tensions among scores of ethnic groups in the former Soviet Union. The Caucasus region has been especially fractious.

For Moscow, which governs dozens of republics and regions in the Russian Federation, Chechnya has become a test of whether it is willing to use military might to hold the country together.