41.   Unable to crush the Chechens militarily, Moscow hopes to use financial muscle to draw the North Caucasus republic away from its independence drive.

42.   Yeltsin ordered his army in the Caucasus republic to crush a three-year independence drive that he maintained was threatening Russian unity.

43.   Khankala served as the main forward base for Russian ground troops and helicopter gunships in their attempt to crush the Chechen independence drive.

44.   Lebed also urged Chechens to avoid sparking new tensions on Friday, when they mark the fifth anniversary of their self-declared independence drive.

45.   Lee, who Beijing suspects is leading an independence drive in Taiwan, is widely expected to win the post.

46.   Milosevic has increasingly distanced himself from the independence drive of his Serb brethren in both Bosnia and Croatia in a bid to get international sanctions against Serbia lifted.

47.   Moscow has so far refused to negotiate with Dudayev, whose independence drive Russia is trying to crush.

48.   On Thursday, an AFP reporter saw a Russian plane score a direct hit on the palace, the nerve-centre of the Chechen independence drive.

49.   President Ernesto Zedillo led the revelers shouting traditional tributes to the heroes of the independence drive.

50.   Russia sent troops to Chechnya last month to crush its independence drive.