Assault on Grozny continues
Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov has officially joined Russia's presidential race, challenging Acting President Vladimir Putin in the March poll. Mr Zyuganov, who was second in the 1996 election, said that he hoped to build a centre-left coalition to oppose Putin, whose popularity has been built largely on the successful leadership of the war in Chechnya.
He criticised the acting president for having little in the way of clear policy. The Liberal Party leader, Yavlinsky, who has also announced his candidature, said that he wanted to make sure the voters had a choice. Each nominee must gather 500,000 signatures to be registered with the Central Election Commission as an official candidate.
Fighting has intensified in the Chechen capital, Grozny, as Russian forces continue their assault on the city. The Russians also say that they have killed 58 Chechen rebels trying to flee to mountains in the South. Russian news agencies said that those who died were part of a larger group that was trying to escape to the region's southern mountains. They said that the others were forced to retreat into the city.
One report says that the estimated fifteen hundred rebels remaining in Grozny have been organised into small squads of five to ten men each to maximise resistance to the advance of Russian troops. In another development, human rights groups have accused the rebels of using civilians as shields.
