- Title: RUSSIA: RUSSIAN AND CHECHEN LEADERS SIGN DEAL TO HALT FIGHTING
- Date: 27th May 1996
- Summary: SLEPTSOVSK, INGUSHETIA; AND MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MAY 27, 1996) (REUTERS TELEVISION - ACCESS ALL) SLEPTSOVSK, INGUSHETIA 1. SV CHECHEN SEPARATIST LEADER ZELIMKHAN YANDERBIYEV'S CONVOY ARRIVING AT THE AIRPORT 0.12 2. SV YANDERBIYEV AND THE CHECHEN DELEGATION GETTING OUT OF CAR 0.21 3. SCU YANDERBIYEV SAYING THE MEETING IN MOSCOW WAS A CHANCE OF PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT AND COMPROMISE IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE/ ADDING THE CHECHEN SIDE IS NOT GOING TO MOSCOW AS LOSERS BUT AS WINNERS (RUSSIAN) 0.44 4. SV GUERRILLAS, INCLUDING AKHMED ZAKAYEV, CHECHEN FIELD COMMANDER 0.49 5. SV YANDERBIYEV SAYING GOODBYE TO THE PRESIDENT OF INGUSHETIA, RUSLAN AUSHEV/ BOARDING PLANE 1.02 6. LV DUDAYEV'S PORTRAIT IN A GUERRILLA'S JEEP 1.04 7. LV PLANE TAKING OFF 1.16 MOSCOW 8. WIDE OF KREMLIN 1.21 9. LV MOTORCADE ARRIVING AT KREMLIN (2 SHOTS) 1.41 10.SV INTERIOR OF MEETING ROOM, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN AT TABLE, EXPLAINING ABOUT THE DEAL (RUSSIAN), SEATED ON HIS LEFT IS RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER VICTOR CHERNOMYRDIN (2 SHOTS) 2.05 11.SV YANDERBIYEV SEATED WITH ADVISORS 2.24 12.SV YELTSIN 2.31 13.SV YANDERBIYEV SIGNING DOCUMENTS 2.41 14.GV MEETING/ ZOOM TO SV RUSSIAN TEAM SIGNING DOCUMENTS (2 SHOTS) 3.06 15.SV CHECHEN DELEGATION/ GV MEETING (2 SHOTS) 3.21 16.LV CHECHEN MOTORCADE LEAVING KREMLIN/ WIDE OF KREMLIN (2 SHOTS) 3.40 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 11th June 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SLEPTSOVSK; INGUSHETIA AND MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- City:
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA1RS7593QE9BBKWMAGPBPHA31D
- Story Text: INTRO: Russian and Chechen leaders have signed a landmark deal to halt fighting in the breakaway region from midnight on June 1, Russian news agencies said.
President Boris Yeltsin, speaking after over two hours of talks with separatist Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev on Monday (May 27), said the deal was "historic".
"We have resolved the key problem of peace in Chechnya," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Yeltsin as saying after concluding the agreement. "This is an historic day, an historic moment." Tass said the deal provided for an exchange of all prisoners within two weeks, but the agencies gave few details of what concrete decisions had been reached.
Earlier on Monday the rebel leader seemed to sense he had little to lose but something to gain as he headed for the ground-breaking encounter with Yeltsin.
He said he was going to the Kremlin "not as a loser but as a winner" after 17 months of bitter fighting and would demand that Russian troops be withdrawn from the region.
The discussions were the first top-level talks between the two sides since Yeltsin sent troops into the Caucasus region in December 1994 to crush an independence bid.
The last major round of negotiations, in the regional capital Grozny last summer, involved ministers and military officials. But Yeltsin, who described the Chechen leadership as bandits and terrorists, never joined the talks.
Yeltsin invited Yandarbiyev to Moscow for talks in the hope that an end to fighting would boost his chances of re-election in a presidential poll on June 16, where he faces a strong challenge from communist Gennady Zyuganov.
"A deal was signed in the Kremlin to end military activity in Chechnya from 0000 June 1," Interfax news agency said.
Tass said representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were also present at the talks.
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