1.   Putin blamed Chechen guerrillas for the blasts and sent troops to quell the separatist republic.

2.   Reports of Russian attacks on civilians in Chechnya have been common during the campaign to subdue the separatist republic.

3.   The government has promised unequivocal victory over the separatist republic while avoiding civilian casualties.

4.   There are also signs of increased warfare in Chechnya, the separatist southern republic.

5.   President Boris Yeltsin, campaigning in southern Russia, also spoke in favor of talks and repeated his promise to visit the separatist republic this month.

6.   President Dzhokhar Dudayev urged the people of his separatist republic to fight Russian soldiers to the death.

7.   A large anti-Russian rally in the Chechen capital resumed Monday as people gathered for a second day to demand the immediate withdrawal of federal troops from their separatist republic.

8.   A refrigerator truck carried the bodies of Chechen rebels killed before Moscow agreed Sunday to a cease-fire and new peace talks for the southern separatist republic.

9.   An Islamic court in Chechnya handed down life sentences Monday to at least three men convicted of kidnapping a banker in the separatist republic, Russian news agencies reported.

10.   An international mediator who helped arrange peace talks in Chechnya and oversaw its recent elections was ordered to leave the separatist republic on Tuesday.