Russia's tactics in the breakaway republic of Chechnya dominated the Russia-European Union summit in Helsinki yesterday, with the EU demanding "immediate" negotiations and the Russians stalling for time.
The summit had been planned in advance of the attack on the Chechen capital, Grozny, on Thursday in which a market and hospital were hit. According Chechen figures, 137 people were killed and hundreds more wounded.
The attack, which the Chechens blamed on Russia, set a sombre scene for the regular summit intended to improve relations between Moscow and the EU. However, the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, sitting in for President Yeltsin, was put immediately on the defensive, acknowledging a vague "special anti-terrorist operation" in Chechnya but blaming the market attack on rival Chechen gangs.
An official closing summit statement made mention of "an exchange of views" on Chechnya, but sources said the talk had been anything but diplomatic.
At a joint press conference, the European Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, President Paavo Lipponen of Finland, Mr Javier Solana, the new EU high representative for security, and Mr Putin displayed icy, stolid expressions.
"We do not accept a military solution on the Chechen conflict and we have asked the Russian prime minister to open a dialogue," said Mr Lipponen, whose country holds the EU presidency until December 31st.
The Russian military response to what Moscow termed a "terrorist threat" had been "disproportionate," he said, suggesting a possible recourse to the "good offices" of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Mr Solana, the former NATO chief on his first EU outing, said the EU wanted a "de-escalation" in Chechnya, "a political solution and a response to humanitarian problems and those of displaced persons". A grim-faced Mr Prodi said he was "very, very greatly concerned" about the situation in Chechnya.
Mr Putin, at his own press conference earlier in the day, rejected reports of Russian rocket attacks on the market and hospital.
"There has been talk of missile attacks against civilian targets, that is not right," he said. "I can confirm there was some sort of explosion in Grozny in the market, but I want to draw the attention of the press that it's not a market in the conventional sense, but an arms market. That is what they call this place in Grozny."
"We do not rule out that the explosion that took place was the result of confrontations between rival groups," he said. "There are reports that there was some sort of special operation," Mr Putin continued. "I have reasons to believe that such an operation took place yesterday, but it had no link with what happened in Grozny."
In the aftermath of Thursday's attack, corpses lay piled up and as many as 200 wounded pleaded for help amid mangled market stalls strewn with shrapnel, broken glass and blood. Among those killed were people who had been sitting in a nearby cafe. Inside the cafe half-eaten bowls of food lay on tables, sprinkled with broken glass.