RUSSIA: Chechen rebels yesterday offered to hold direct talks with Moscow, one week into their self-declared ceasefire in the province.
The war-torn south Russian province is enjoying a rare period of calm since rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov declared the ceasefire last week.
Speaking through his rebel website, Maskhadov said Russia now has a historic chance to end the fighting: "If reason triumphs among our Kremlin opponents, we can end this war at the negotiating table."
He repeated calls for a ceasefire, backed by international monitors, and is reportedly offering to hand over his senior commander, Shamil Basayev, the man blamed for last year's Beslan school atrocity, to an international court.
Moscow made no response, and has yet to comment on Maskhadov's ceasefire offer, having said in the past it does not negotiate with a man it considers a terrorist.
But the pro-Moscow president of Chechnya, Mr Alu Alkhanov, has called for Maskhadov, a former provincial president, to surrender unconditionally to Russian authorities.
The ceasefire has effectively stopped the five-year-old war, since without attacks on Russian targets there is little for Moscow's forces to do but wait.
If the ceasefire holds, it is likely to put more pressure on Moscow to enter into talks with the rebels, a move long urged by the Council of Europe and European Union.
But despite the current cessation of fighting, peace remains a distant goal with both sides at loggerheads over the future of the province.
Rebel leaders have long said they must have independence, and Moscow has refused to consider this option.
Russian newspapers are carrying reports from unnamed officials indicating that Basayev has been killed, either in a gun battle between rival factions or, according to another version, from kidney failure.
In answer to this, Chechen websites have released a video statement from Basayev saying he is alive and well and living in hiding.
Adding to the confusion, so-called Mujahadin forces in the neighbouring province of Dagestan have continued attacks, releasing their own statement declaring that the ceasefire does not apply outside Chechen territory.
Maskhakov's reasoning for the ceasefire remains unclear. Rebel forces remain in the field, and there is no apparent weakness in their capabilities.