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absolutely convinced that it could be manipulated by the use of acts of terrorism blamed on the Chechens. On December 5, the FSK informed journalists that foreign mercenaries had surged across the state border into Chechnya and, therefore, activity by the terrorist groups being infiltrated into Russia today cannot be ruled out in other regions of the country as well. This was the first undisguised announcement by the FSK that acts of terrorism with a trail leading back to Chechnya would soon begin in Russia.

At this point, however, they still spoke of Russia being infiltrated by foreign agents, a ploy drawn, no doubt, from the pages of the old Soviet KGB handbooks.

On December 6, Dudaev declared in an interview that Russia s policy was creating a rising tide of Islamic sentiment in Chechnya: Playing the Chechen card may bring into play the global interests of foreign Islamic states, who could make it impossible to control the development of events. A third force has now emerged in Chechnya, the Islamists, and the initiative is gradually shifting over to them. Dudaev characterized the mood of the new arrivals in Grozny with the words: We are no longer your soldiers, Mr.

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President, we are the soldiers of Allah, and summed up: the situation in Chechnya is beginning to get out of control, and this concerns me.

As though in reply to Dudaev, Russian Minister of Defense Grachyov held a public relations exercise which took the external form of a peacemaking gesture, but in reality, provoked a further escalation of the conflict. Grachyov proposed that the Chechen opposition headed by Avturkhanov, which was financed, armed, and staffed by the FSK, should disarm, on condition that Dudaev s supporters would agree to give up their weapons at the same time. In other words, he suggested to Dudaev that the Chechens should disarm unilaterally (since there was no suggestion of the Russian side disarming).

Naturally this proposal was not accepted by the government of the Chechen Republic. On December 7, Grachyov had a meeting with Dudaev, but the discussions proved fruitless.

On the same day in Moscow, the Security Council held a session devoted to events in Chechnya, and the State Duma held a closed session, to which the leaders of the government departments responsible for the armed forces and other agencies of law enforcement were invited. However, they failed to show up at the Duma, because they did not wish to answer the parliamentarians questions about who had given the orders to recruit members of the Russian armed forces and bomb Grozny. We now know that the Russian military personnel were recruited by the FSK on Stepashin s instructions, and that the directives to bombard Grozny were issued by the Ministry of Defense.

On December 8, the Chechen side announced it was in possession of information that Russia was preparing to advance its forces on to Chechen territory and launch an all-out land war against the republic. At a press conference, held at the State Duma in Moscow on December 9, the chairman of the Duma Federal Affairs and Regional Policy Committee and chairman of the Republican Party of Russia, Vladimir Lysenko, announced that in that case, he would table a motion in the Duma for the Russian government to be dismissed. On December 8, the Working Commission on Negotiations for the Settlement of the Conflict in the Chechen Republic managed to broker an agreement between the representatives of President Dudaev and the opposition, under which negotiations were due to start in Vladikavkaz at 15.00 hours on December 12. The Russian federal authorities delegation to the negotiations was to have consisted of twelve members led by the deputy minister for nationalities and regional policy, Vyacheslav Mikhailov. The delegation from Grozny was to have numbered nine members, headed by the Chechen minister of the economy and finance, Taimaz Abubakarov. From the opposition there was to have been a three-man delegation led by