Human cost of recent fighting begins to emerge

THE first official details of the human cost of the recent fighting in Chechnya began to emerge yesterday. Russian military sources said the bodies of 451 soldiers had been recovered since August 6th, while the Immigration Ministry put the numbers of refugees who left Grozny at 198,000.

Meanwhile, Russia's security chief, Mr Alexander Lebed, was kept waiting a further day to present details of the latest peace talks to President Yeltsin. The two men will probably meet today.

But Mr Lebed met the Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, in Moscow for 90 minutes yesterday and a communique issued afterwards expressed "mutual satisfaction with the normalisation process and ceasefire in Chechnya."

While both sides agree that a referendum on the region's political status should be held there are major differences on the timing of such a vote, with Russia wanting it to be put off for about five years and the Chechen rebels demanding it to be held considerably earlier.

Talks on the ground in Chechnya were also deadlocked over the return of arms seized from Russian Interior Ministry Troops. A number of guns were returned but the Russian side refused to resume negotiations on military co operation, saying that only half the arms had serial numbers corresponding to those which had been captured.

Military sources put the minimum number of Russian troops killed in Grozny in the past three weeks at 451 with more than 1,300 injured, but the independent Interfax news agency stressed the figures were not complete and the final total was likely to be higher.

Damage to property and infrastructure was estimated at over $700 million, according to Mr Alkhasur Tsakayev, deputy prime minister of the pro Moscow, Chechen government.

No casualty figures for Chechen rebels and civilians have yet been issued but Russia's Immigration Ministry estimated that 198,000 people had fled Grozny after the threat of a major assault by Russian forces.

The already complicated situation, involving power struggles in the Kremlin, Mr Yeltsin's obvious illness, and divisions between moderates and militants on the Chechen rebel side, has at least two further elements which may make a worthwhile settlement difficult to achieve.

The main political adviser to the self styled Chechen president of Ichkeria, Mr Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, is the former speaker of the Russian parliament, Mr Ruslan Khasbulatov. He held out in the Moscow White House until it was shelled by Russian troops in October 1993 and is known to have a personal animus against Mr Yeltsin. Mr Yandarbiyev is known to take a much more militant stance on independence than Mr Aslan Maskhadov, who has been negotiating with Gen Lebed.

The pro Moscow Chechen government has also indicated it is against a settlement. One of its representatives. Mr Alkhazur Tsokayev, told a Moscow press conference yesterday that Mr Lebed was involved in an open coup d'etat against the Moscow installed leadership.