Chechens Free 46 Captives; Russia Pledges Aid

Chechen militants released 46 hostages in exchange for the bodies of their slain compatriots Wednesday as President Boris N. Yeltsin announced plans to spend $4.2 billion rebuilding the Chechen territory that his troops have been bombing for more than a year.

The latest chapter in the hostage saga unfolded quietly. Chechen rebels relinquished most of the captives they have held since raiding a hospital in southern Russia three weeks ago and forcing a showdown with the Russian military in the small town of Pervomayskoye, in neighboring Dagestan. In return, the separatists received the corpses of 42 rebels killed during the battle.

The swift swap signaled cooperation after days of tense negotiations but does not end the hostage drama. Chechens still claim to hold more than a dozen captives, including police officers. Russian forces, meanwhile, say they are holding 111 corpses.

The Chechens have been fighting to spring their oil-rich republic from the Kremlin’s control and create an independent nation.

Reiterating his position that Chechnya will remain part of Russia, Yeltsin pledged to help the war-wrecked land by constructing apartment buildings, factories and roads.

He also promised $68 million to rebuild Pervomayskoye, which Russian troops flattened with rockets and artillery. The destruction embittered local residents--mostly ethnic Dagestanis, who resent Russia’s fierce assault on their placid farming town. In an effort to soothe the ethnic tension, Yeltsin’s government promised the Dagestanis generous compensation.

But Yeltsin’s critics immediately assailed the notion that the promised cash would turn Russia into one big, happy family.

Four of Yeltsin’s liberal advisors resigned from the Presidential Council this week to protest his violent Chechen policy. In an open letter to Yeltsin, renowned human rights activist Sergei A. Kovalev declared: “I can no longer work with a president whom I do not consider either a proponent of democracy or a guarantor of citizens’ rights and freedoms.”

Yeltsin’s plan to give Chechnya $3.2 billion in federal funds plus $1 billion in foreign credits also drew fire.

Finance Minister Vladimir G. Panskov insisted the program could be paid for from the existing budget, requiring only a “redistribution of tax flows.” Yet other elected officials demanded to know exactly what programs would be slighted in the shuffle.

“The president says there is no money to pay wages to miners, teachers and doctors, but at the same time he gives colossal sums of money as handouts to Chechnya,” Amangeldy Tuleyev, a lawmaker from northern Russia, told the Interfax news agency.

Meanwhile, local media reported that six soldiers were killed in Chechnya on Tuesday and Wednesday as Russian troops seized 30 pounds of explosives and 160 grenade launchers from rebel hide-outs.