No peace in sight in Chechnya

The war in Chechnya is demonstrating, once again, the weakness of the Russian state.

The shelling of the market in Grozny and the closing of the border to refugees fleeing toward Ingushetia are the actions of men with no interest in winning hearts and minds in a republic that, after all, still forms part of the Russian Federation.

Their motivation, rather, is vengeance for defeat in the first Chechen war.

The tragedy is that Moscow has a reasonable case for intervention, which it is now undermining by wanton brutality.

It would have been wiser to grant Chechnya independence in the early 1990s. But that moment is now long past.

The deal struck in 1996, by which Chechnya's status was to be decided in 2001, is dead. Mr. Maskhadov has regained prestige by resisting Russian demands. The prospect is for hand-to-hand fighting for control of the towns and rapidly mounting casualties. And there is no end in sight.

-- The Daily Telegraph, London