Heavy Weapons Cease-Fire Reported in Chechnya

Russian and Chechen commanders worked out a cease-fire covering heavy weapons Monday amid signs that President Boris N. Yeltsin is trying to distance himself from the unpopular military operation in the breakaway region.

The Defense Ministry said follow-up talks will seek to broaden the truce in the Kremlin’s assault on the region’s secessionist rebels.

Yeltsin, embroiled in controversy at home and abroad, plans a tough look at the military campaign in a keynote speech to Parliament this week, the Interfax news agency said, quoting Kremlin sources.

The Itar-Tass news agency said, meanwhile, that Yeltsin briefed President Clinton on the conflict during a telephone conversation Monday.

The White House said that Clinton urged a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Chechnya.

“President Clinton reiterated the importance of an end to the bloodshed and the start of a process leading to a peaceful settlement of the dispute,” said a statement issued by the White House.

“He (Clinton) stated once again that Chechnya is part of Russia but noted the legitimate international concern over the humanitarian toll the fighting has taken,” the White House statement said.

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said the cease-fire agreement was reached in the Ingushetia settlement of Sleptsovsk, on the border with Chechnya, after talks between the Russian commander, Col. Gen. Anatoly Kulikov, and the head of rebel forces, Aslan Maskhadov.

“The sun is showing us that it is time to start sowing,” Kulikov said on Russian television at the start of the talks, an apparent reference to the approach of spring.