21.   Alvaro Gil-Robles, the Council of Europe human rights commissioner, today visited refugee camps in Ingushetia, the Russian republic neighboring Chechnya.

22.   Although Russia still regards Chechnya as a Russian republic, Chechnya considers itself independent and Russia has been able to exercise no authority over affairs within its borders.

23.   An argument between Russian border guards and drunken police officers in an eastern Russian republic sparked a shootout in which four people were seriously wounded, officials said Monday.

24.   An ethnic minority leader in a southern Russian republic who was shot and seriously wounded in a gun battle last week died Sunday, a hospital official said.

25.   Among the fugitives were two men convicted of murder and a man convicted of belonging to a band of gunmen in the breakaway Russian republic Chechnya, Goncharov said.

26.   ARS plans to use the money to buy equipment and build a gas pipeline in Sakha, an arctic Russian republic where its operations are concentrated.

27.   Azayev is one of thousands of Chechens who moved to the gorge to escape the war across the rugged mountains in their separatist Russian republic.

28.   At least one armed man hijacked a bus Monday evening in Dagestan, a southern Russian republic neighboring Chechnya, and escaped after freeing all passengers, officials said.

29.   Border police stopped Alla Dudayeva on Monday at the airport in Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria, a southern Russian republic neighboring Chechnya.

30.   Bin Laden is believed to have financed Muslim militants who fought a bitter secessionist battle in the breakaway Russian republic.