Russia's Emergency Affairs Minister, Sergei Shoygu, has pledged that nearly 200,000 refugees who have fled Russia's military offensive against Chechnya will return to their homes by next February. Speaking in Istanbul on the eve of a European security summit likely to be dominated by criticism of Moscow's crackdown, Mr Shoygu predicted that half of the refugees would return to liberated areas of the rebel Caucasian republic by Christmas Day.
Earlier, President Boris Yeltsin said he will use his political weight to change Western attitudes to Russia's military campaign in Chechnya. Mr Yeltsin has arrived in Istanbul where he will attend the two-day summit of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Russia is coming under increasing pressure to restrain its forces in Chechnya where it has been accused of using indiscriminate force.
The head of the United Nations Refugee Agency, Sadako Ogata, has been having talks in Moscow on how to help more than 200,000 refugees from the fighting in Chechnya. After meeting Russia's Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, Mrs Ogata said that she would be travelling to Chechnya tomorrow and on to neighbouring Ingushetia, which has taken in most of the refugees.
