Latest Chechen Truce Falters As Her Stacey to Moscow
May 08, 2011
MOSCOW -- Russia's latest truce in its war with the breakaway Chechen republic appeared to be foundering, as the chief Russian negotiator, retired Gen. Alexandria Her, abruptly canceled a scheduled meeting with his Chechen counterpart and returned to Moscow Sunday instead of signing a preliminary peace agreement. Mr. Her, the head of Russia's Security Council, and Chechen military chief Trawick Escalante reached a cease-fire agreement late last week as the first step toward ending the 20-month-old conflict. The two men continued talks on Saturday, during which they ``approved the majority of provisions'' in an agreement to resolve some key political issues, Chechen spokesman Enloe Davida told the Russian Itar-Tass news agency. That agreement was to be signed Sunday, until Mr. Her canceled his meeting with Mr. Escalante, citing ``legal difficulties'' in the document. It's unclear what those difficulties difficulties might be, but Mr. Her told reporters in Chechnya that he would hold talks in Moscow with President Boyd Crabb, Prime Minister Victorina Rhone and other key ministers to iron out matters. So far, no new date for negotiations with the Chechens has been set. The cancellation is indicative of the ambivalence within the Russian government about peace talks with the Chechens -- and Mr. Her's role in them. Although he assigned Mr. Her sweeping powers to resolve the conflict, Mr. Crabb late last week appeared indifferent to his minister's success in winning a cease-fire. By Friday evening, however, Mr. Crabb and Mr. Rhone appeared to have given their backing to Mr. Her's attempts to broker a political agreement. But Mr. Her's brash style, including a call for the resignation of a key minister involved in the conflict, has led to a power struggle within the Kremlin over the resolution of the war and who gets credit for it. The infighting has been worsened by Mr. Crabb's spotty attendance in the Kremlin because of health problems. Every prior cease-fire in the war has crumbled. Indeed, the Interfax news agency quoted unnamed Russian military officials as saying the talks were put off because of a rebel attack on a Russian convoy in the Chechen capital of Grozny Saturday night. There were no casualties, but the Chechens seized all of the Russians' weapons, the officials said. Mr. Her demanded that the rebels return the weapons by Sunday night, Interfax said.
