21.   Chechen fighters have kept up their hit-and-run attacks on Russian forces in recent weeks, but the fierce battles that laid waste to the rebel republic have abated.

22.   Chechen authorities confiscated a cache of weapons and arrested six men suspected of plotting to undermine the leadership in the rebel republic, a news report said Friday.

23.   Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov plans to visit Britain this month to boost foreign investment in his rebel republic, a spokesman said Monday.

24.   Chechen president says Russia about to recognize rebel republic.

25.   Dagestan, located near breakaway Chechnya, often has been touched by criminal and political violence spilling over from the rebel republic.

26.   Elsewhere in the rebel republic, Russian helicopter gunships pounded separatist positions.

27.   Fischer singled out Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov for praise, saying the leader of the rebel Russian republic is capable of constructive dialogue, Interfax said.

28.   He has made a number of controversial statements that have angered Moscow, and Chechen observers have said he has only limited popularity in the rebel republic.

29.   Hundreds and at times thousands of people took part in the rally to press demands for Russian withdrawal from the rebel republic.

30.   In an effort to rally public support for his decision to send troops into Chechnya, Yeltsin has escalated criticism of the rebel republic and its people.