The President will put an end to it
The meeting on the situation in Chechnya, which Yevgeny Primakov chaired yesterday on the instructions of the president, did not support the military option for resolving the conflict. In fact, it made no decision at all. The president will have to accept it.

“We will not lead to the resumption of hostilities in Chechnya. This will not happen,” this is how Primakov concluded yesterday’s two-hour meeting. It was attended by First Deputy Prime Minister Vadim Gustov, Deputy Prime Minister Gennady Kulik, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Oleg Sysuev, Minister of Internal Affairs Sergei Stepashin, Minister of Defense Igor Sergeev, Head of the FSB Vladimir Putin, Minister of Finance Mikhail Zadornov, Minister of Justice Pavel Krasheninnikov , heads of the chambers of the Federal Assembly Egor Stroev and Gennady Seleznev.
Primakov looked like a real diplomat at the meeting. He tried in every possible way not to talk about the conflict with Chechnya, at the very beginning declaring the main purpose of the meeting to be a discussion of measures to strengthen law and order in the neighboring regions. Further they talked about Chechnya as a virtually independent state, against which it would be inappropriate to use a “forceful solution.” The main issue was the problem of interaction between the federal and Chechen authorities in the operation to free Gennady Shpigun.
Oleg Sysuev outlined the administration’s position the day before: “The President, the government, the Security Council will do everything possible to avoid any bloodshed between Chechnya and Russia. The bandits will be punished. There will be a full-scale war with them.” At the same time, Sysuev emphasized that all special operations against gangs in Chechnya must be carried out in cooperation with the Chechen authorities.
Apparently, the majority of meeting participants supported the Kremlin. Even Stepashin did not unequivocally speak out for carrying out targeted missile and bomb strikes on terrorist bases. Although it was with his knowledge that Tochka-U missile launchers began to be concentrated near Chechnya, designed to carry out such attacks, and the airfields of the regions neighboring Chechnya are preparing to receive heavy military transport aircraft (see material on page 1). At the meeting, Stepashin proposed “to organize our work with the President of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, to search for and release General Shpigun, who was taken hostage, whose circle of kidnappers is known to us.” Moreover, Primakov may meet with the head of Chechnya (a meeting between Boris Yeltsin and Aslan Maskhadov in the near future seems unlikely due to the president’s illness).
Perhaps today Primakov will report to the president the results of the meeting. It is likely that a meeting of the Security Council will still be required to adopt a final plan to resolve the crisis. At least, Oleg Sysuev did not rule out this option after the end of the meeting in the White House.
It is clear that, along with making concrete decisions, all participants in recent events are concerned with another question - who will bear the responsibility for overcoming the crisis. Until yesterday it seemed that Stepashin was ready to take on this burden. By the way, he prudently prepared for a forceful solution to the Chechen problem. But his “hawkish” plan has not yet passed.
The reason is simple. Primakov clearly does not seek to lead the settlement process: political dividends in such a situation cannot be clearly assessed and the prime minister does not want to take risks. The prime minister took the most advantageous position, pretending that he was simply observing the chain of command (such decisions have always been the prerogative of the president). So the final decision regarding the situation in Chechnya will be made at the Central Clinical Hospital by Boris Yeltsin.

NATALIA J-TIMAKOVA

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 38 dated March 11, 1999, p. 1