THE contrast between reactions in Moscow and Chechnya to the peace accord brought about by the Russian security chief, Gen Alexander Lebed, is stark.
At the town of Khasav Yurt, Gen Lebed declared: "The war is over.
This was greeted by cries of "Allahu Akhbar" (God is great) and "Lebed for president". In Moscow, President Yeltsin was far less enthusiastic, demanding to know why Gen Lebed made last minute changes in the deal.
The main change, it is understood, concerned the length of the moratorium on Chechen claims for independence. Mr Yeltsin asked for a 10 year freeze, while Gen Lebed accepted a five year period.
The statement came at a time when speculation about Mr Yeltsin's health was once again increasing. His press secretary, Mr Sergei Yastrzhembsky, interviewed on the political TV programme, Zerkalo (Mirror), yesterday, called on journalists to respect the ethical division between the president's public and private life. He said in future all medical details about the president would he made public, but he refrained for commenting on the current state of Mr Yeltsin's health.
The Washington Post, however, has published an article in which it claims that pre recorded appearances by Mr Yeltsin on Russian TV had been severely doctored. A speech on July 1st before the presidential elections was the result of three separate recordings, the best parts of which had been spliced together, the newspaper said. In another "broadcast" from the Barvikha sanatorium medical personnel in white coats had been airbrushed from the pictures.
The Chechen cries of "Lebed for president" will have been heard at Leonid Brezhnev's former hunting lodge at Zavidovo, north west of Moscow, where Mr Yeltsin is reported to be resting.
His hesitancy to endorse Gen Lebed's deal can, to a large extent, be put down to the security chief's growing popularity and also to political rivalry between the Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, and Gen Lebed.
On a visit to Russia's third largest city yesterday, Mr Chernomyrdin was extremely cautious in his comments on the peace deal, saying instead that Russia was "going down the right road" in its dealings with the Chechens.
The plan has been endorsed by Chechen political leader Mr Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, who previously stood hack from the negotiations conducted with Gen Lebed by the Chechen military commander, Gen Aslan Maskhadov.
The pro Moscow Chechen government, headed by Chechnya's former communist party secretary, Mr Doku Zavgayev, was, meanwhile, on its last legs with plans for its resignation and the setting up of a coalition administration, including representatives of the rebels, being formulated. At a Moscow press conference last night, a number of ministers in the pro Russian administration announced their resignations.
Asked if the new deal had annulled Mr Zavgaev's power in Chechnya Gen Lebed laconically replied with the question: "Did he have any power?"
