New evidence of Russian army massacre alleged

President Yeltsin has declared Russia's campaign in Chechnya to be "flawless" and Gen Vladimir Shamanov, denying claims of a massacre in the village of Alkhan Yurt, has spoken of Russian solders fulfilling their "holy duty". However, fresh and extremely disturbing evidence supporting allegations of a massacre has now emerged.

The case of Nabitst Kornukayeva, aged over 100 when she died, calls the sanctity and "flawlessness" of Russian troops into question. On December 2nd a neighbour claims he heard several shots coming from her residence. Two days later a relative found her body and that of her son, Arbi (65), lying near the door. Both showed several automatic gunshot wounds. The gates to the house were broken and track-marks from an armoured personnel carrier could be seen in the yard.

This story is one of 17 contained in a letter sent to the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, from Human Rights Watch (HRW) whose team has been interviewing people who were in the village when the alleged atrocities took place. HRW's letter calls on Mr Putin to permit an independent investigation and to allow it and other international agencies to enter Chechnya to pursue their inquiries.

Few Western observers are hopeful of a positive response from Mr Putin who, in a statement on the government website (www.pravitelstvo.gov.ru), has declared that Russia does not intend to become a Western-style liberal democracy.

So far the official reaction to the allegations has been to claim that villagers led Russian troops into an ambush in the village; that they were used as "human shields" by the Chechen rebels; and that they were legitimate casualties of troops who were defending themselves.

The evidence put forward by HRW in its letter to Mr Putin is by far the most comprehensive and detailed so far. It names 17 of those who died, gives the dates, times and circumstances of their deaths and of the discovery of their bodies. At the very least it indicates to Mr Putin that there is an extremely serious case to be answered.

Gen Shamanov's comments came after NTV had shown highly-incriminatory footage. This included scenes of Russian soldiers in the village with a trailer full of looted domestic items, including food, carpets some household equipment and bloodstained family photo albums.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry has warned foreign journalists who attempt to enter Chechnya without permission that they will be stripped of their accreditation and refused entry to the Russian Federation in the future.

Agencies add: Chechen rebels said yesterday they had retreated from mountain positions in the south and key heights in Grozny, where Russian artillery and rockets pounded their positions without let-up.

A rebel spokesman said by telephone from an undisclosed location that guerrilla fighters had retreated from two key hills in the capital, including one near a television tower that had seen heavy fighting for weeks. But he said Russians were suffering heavy losses trying to take the city.

Several foreign journalists were detained in Chechnya yesterday but were released nine hours later, according to the Washington Post, whose correspondent was among those held.

The paper's foreign editor, Robert McCartney, said the paper's correspondent, Daniel Williams, had telephoned to say that the journalists were detained near the Chechen capital, Grozny, by Russian Interior Ministry personnel and flown by helicopter to Mosdok, a huge Russian military base in the North Ossetia region, just over the border from Chechnya.

A Russian in the timber business was shot dead by a sniper yesterday in central St Petersburg, police said. Itar-Tass said Mr Mikhail Dakhya was killed by a single shot from around 350 metres.