Moscow - Russian bombers pounded the centre of the Chechen capital, Grozny, for several hours yesterday as troops laid siege to Chechnya's second city, Gudermes, and the generals running Russia's war in the north Caucasus kept thousands of refugees penned inside Chechnya.
The Russian command said it was appealing to Chechen separatist guerrillas to abandon Gudermes, a strategic prize on the eastern approaches to Grozny. The Russian forces appeared determined to maintain a ring of steel around the cit y to shell it into submission.