1.   Challenging a key provision of the peace accord for Chechnya, the Kremlin warned Saturday that the southern Russian republic must remain part of Russia.

2.   Chechnya claimed independence when Russian troops withdrew, but Moscow maintains that the republic remains part of the Russian Federation.

3.   Two months after Chechen separatists defeated the Russian army, this republic remains a part of Russia in name alone.

4.   What that means for the fate of tens of thousands of civilians trapped in rebel-held territory in the breakaway North Caucasus republic remained unclear.

5.   All opposition parties and human rights groups in Serbia and Montenegro, the two republics remaining in the new, smaller Yugoslavia, protested the moves against Borba.

6.   All opposition parties and human rights groups in Serbia and Montenegro, the two republics remaining in the new, smaller Yuugoslavia, protested the moves against Borba.

7.   All opposition parties and human rights groups in Serbia and Montenegro, the two republics remaining in rump Yugoslavia, protested the moves against Borba.

8.   At present, the document stipulates that the two ex-Soviet republics will remain separate countries.

9.   But the ex-Soviet republic remains heavily dependent on Russian supplies.

10.   But the mountainous southern republic remains plagued by violence and some fighters have vowed revenge against Russia for largely destroying their republic.