Calls by senior figures in the powerful Union of Karabakh Volunteers for Armenian President Robert Kocharian to resign have intensified speculation that the Armenian military are pursuing a more active role in Armenian politics.
Public reaction to last August's outbreak of war in Chechnya proved very different to the way the last conflict was received in 1995. The difference, reports Densi Bevz from the Siberian city of Tomsk, is down to cynicism, an uncaring community and the me
The Chechen government's efforts to communicate with Moscow - or indeed the West - are rebuffed. Negotiators are sidelined. And pleas for safe passage for the terrified civilians of Grozny are ignored.
The second Chechen war has bridged the differences between Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov and his long-time political rival, Shamil Basaev, the most notorious Chechen field commander of recent times.
Last Monday, Moscow dropped leaflets on Grozny telling all residents they must leave before Saturday. That deadline is now upon the city's band of defenders - and an estimated 30,000 innocent civilians.
Russia's new military campaign in the North Caucasus is marked not only by a new military strategy but also by a changed attitude to the Russian army's activity in Chechnya.
While recognising the legitimacy of the Russian government's drive to eliminate the destabilising threat posed by Chechnya's uncontrolled militants, Russian tactics in the republic has appalled much of the international community.
Even when a war is called an 'anti-terrorism operation', as the Russian authorities call their current works in Chechnya, it still has to be paid for.
By Artem Yerkanian in Yerevan (CRS No. 9, 3-Dec-99)
By Maria Eismont, recently in Samashki, Chechnya (CRS No. 9, 3-Dec-99)
