First round of OSCE talks concluded in Grosny

VIENNA, 26 May 1995 - The opening session of talks between the parties involved in the crisis in Chechnya took place on 25 May, in Grozny, in the offices of the OSCE Mission. The talks, under the auspices and with the participation of the OSCE, were initiated by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Hungarian Foreign Minister Lászlo Kovács, with a view to reaching a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Chechen Republic.

The talks were conducted under the chairmanship of the representative of the Chairman-in-Office, Mr. Andre Erdös, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary. Also taking part in these talks were: Mr. Nikolai Semenov and Mr. V.I. Zorin, the representatives in Grozny of the Executive Authorities of the Russian Federation; Mr. L. Magomadov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee of National Accord; and Mr. Usman Imayev and Mr. A. Zakaiev, representatives of Mr. D. Dudayev.

Mr. Erdös opened the talks with a statement by the Chairman-in-Office appealing to all the participants to negotiate in a spirit of compromise in order to reach, as soon as possible, a peaceful solution to this crisis.

After the participants had made general statements concerning the problems which needed to be dealt with during the talks, a proposal by. Mr. Erdös to group these problems under two headings which would correspond to the holding of the next rounds of the talks was accepted by all sides. These headings were:

* the permanent cease-fire and its consequences,* the political process towards stability.

All the participants accepted that at the next meeting they would start working on the modalities necessary for dealing with all the aspects of a cease-fire agreement. The involvement of the military authorities of the concerned parties was deemed necessary.

The talks were held in a business-like and constructive atmosphere. All the participants expressed their appreciation for the role played by the OSCE in facilitating the holding of these talks.

The date and the venue of the next session of the talks will be agreed on through the OSCE Assistance Group to the Chechen Republic.