WITH President Yeltsin safely back in Moscow after a surprise visit to Chechnya, Russia yesterday offered the separatist republic broad powers of autonomy.
But it said a treaty defining those powers would only be signed with the pro Moscow Chechen leader - Mr Doku Zavgayev.
Mr Sergei Shakhrai, who drew up the new treaty, told Itar Tass news agency that it would be signed with "the head of the Chechen Republic", who is branded as a puppet of Moscow by the Chechen rebels.
Mr Sergei Stepashin, secretary of the Russian government commission set up to resolve the conflict, said that "political issues were not discussed" with the Chechen rebel delegation which, signed a ceasefire accord with President Yeltsin in Moscow on Monday. "Nor will they be discussed with them", he added.
A Kremlin spokesman said he did not know exactly who would sign the document, quoted by Interfax news agency. Mr Yeltsin said on Tuesday that the draft treaty on Chechnya's status could be signed on June 30th or in early July after consultation with the Chechen people.
The accord on a ceasefire to take effect next Saturday was a political boost for Mr Yeltsin', who is in the throes of a tough reelection campaign and anxious to end the 17 month war, which has claimed more than 30,000 lives.
The Chechen rebel leader, Mr Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, won increased stature among his supporters by meeting Mr Yeltsin in the Kremlin and being accorded - de facto recognition for his cause.
But in a deft move to build on the progress achieved in the negotiations, Mr Yeltsin on Tuesday paid a lightning visit to Chechnya while Mr Yandarbiyev was still in Moscow. "The war is over. You have scored a victory", Mr Yeltsin told Russian troops in the republic's devastated capital, Grozny, where he did not risk meeting members of the Chechen public.
On his way back to Chechnya, Mr Yandarbiyev said the accord, which also committed both sides to a full prisoner exchange within two weeks, "is a real chance to end the war." However he said it was difficult to say whether the truce would be implemented. "Events will tell us if military action will stop or start again."
"We made great compromises to demonstrate our readiness for peace. We did the maximum we could", Mr Yandarbiyev said. "The Russians did not do the maximum they could have."
The Russian Nationalities Minister, Mr Vyacheslav Mikhailov, who participated in the negotiations, said the accord was "much more" solid than the ceasefire reached in July 1995, which broke down in October.
During his four hour Chechen visit, Mr Yeltsin told troops: "We have defeated the rebels of [Dzhokhar] Dudayev's regime"," referring to Mr Yandarbiyev's predecessor. The visit - his first of the war - was to show "that Chechnya is part of the Russian Federation." Attempts to "resume terrorist and criminal activities" would be met with the toughest response, he added.
. A soldier was killed and seven others burned yesterday when a Russian helicopter was shot down near a Chechen village, Russian state television RTR said. Earlier a tank blew up as it hit a mine in, Grozny, killing two crew members and injuring two, it was reported.