MOSCOW - Russian forces yesterday attacked villages in south west and south east Chechnya as part of what analysts believe is a bid by President Boris Yeltsin to crush the separatist movement before the June presidential elections.
The attacks came despite Mr Yeltsin's announcement on Friday that he and his top advisers had come up with a secret plan to end the war peacefully.
Russian artillery fired on the villages of Samashki in the south west and Vedeno in the south east, according to the official news agency ITARTASS.
