NAZRAN - Chechen separatists yesterday set today as a deadline for signing an agreement with Russian negotiators to end the 18 month conflict in the breakaway territory. Both sides said they had agreed a timetable to withdraw Russian troops from the region and for rebels to lay down their arms.
But Chechen rebels made the agreement conditional on solving the question of when and how a local election to a Chechen assembly should be held. After failing to settle the issue late yesterday, the Chechen information chief Mr Movladi Udugov said: "If we don't sign an agreement by noon tomorrow, then we will leave the negotiations.