61.   The incident highlighted continuing tension between Russians and Chechens despite the signing of a formal peace treaty between Moscow and the rebel republic in May.

62.   The government of the rebel republic claimed it had repelled what it called the long-expected Russian storming of Grozny.

63.   The kidnappings were part of a larger wave of abductions that hit the rebel republic after its war with Russia ended last year.

64.   The hostages freed Saturday included three policemen from Ingushetia, which borders on the rebel republic, and two Russian servicemen.

65.   The move appears to be another attempt by the rebel republic to assert its independence.

66.   The POW release, part of a bigger agreement Tuesday to pull back from military confrontation, averted war in the rebel republic.

67.   The president says he will visit the rebel republic in mid-May.

68.   The rebel republic remains plagued by ransom-motivated kidnappings despite a peace treaty with Russia that ended a two-year war with Moscow last year.

69.   The treaty has been endorsed by Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, but both have voiced reservations and insisted that the rebel republic must remain part of Russia.

70.   Two captured soldiers came home from a rebel republic Saturday and tore another piece from the skimpy veil over a covert Russian bid to oust the president of Chechnya.