European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 10, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday january 10, 1995 Grozny from Page 1 a positions and went Home the Ria no Vosti news Agency was quoted As reporting. Others objected to the bloody offensive having gone awry on monday chechen forces appeared to be coming under increasing pressure with the area under their control in the Center of Grozny shrinking. Many fighters were somber and tired after several Days the stars and stripes Page 3 the chechen have Little heavy weaponry and were armed mostly with assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades. Some men in bands moving up to the fighting had no guns. Russian troops were pushing into chechen positions from several directions on a Chilly overcast Day. The Independent news Agency inter fax said they controlled two thirds of the capital. V Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into the separatist Region in the caucasus mountains to restore Kremlin control. Several thousand people have been killed or wounded and the red Cross estimates 350,000 Are refugees. The area around the presidential Palace which has become the Symbol of Chechnya a Independence drive and is now the main target of the russian forces was a whirlwind of shrapnel but lets and shells. The russian government claimed its troops had advanced to within a few Hundred Yards of the Palace on two sides by mid afternoon and Nad the building a completely  a few chechen fighters reached the area in speeding cars but larger groups on foot were forced Back by withering fire. Bands of chechen fighters ran from House to House trying to halt the russian armoured Advance with grenade launchers. Chechen officers who refused to give their names said they would hold the City even if the russians took the Palace. A the russians should put a net across the River in the City Center to collect All the bodies of their men floating Down it a one said. Chechen president a Khokhar Dunayev whose whereabouts has been unclear for Days appeared on chechen television monday night. The mustachioed Dunayev wearing his military fatigues looked Cairn but technical problems prevented All sound. It was unclear when or where the footage was shot. Some russian civilians tried to get out of the City. A few were on the Street looking for food and water. Several old women looking dazed and frightened wandered Down a main Street bursting into tears when shells exploded nearby. Several columns of refugees mostly women and children left Grozny in trucks and cars. A few trucks were loaded with Beds and other possessions but most people fled with nothing but a few possessions in their hands a chechen tank flying the chechen Republic Flag Bottom and an unidentified Banner in arabic rushes toward the presidential Palace along the badly damaged main Street of Grozny to support the outnumbered chechen fighters monday. ., nato set talks with Russia Art chechen War Washington a Deputy Secretary of state Strobe Talbott flew to Brussels Belgium on monday for urgent talks with russian and nato officials about the fierce assault on rebellious Chechnya. Talbott a assignment coincided with reports that russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had ordered military commanders to arrange a two Day truce in Grozny capital of the secessionist Republic. Talbott was due to meet in Belgium with Deputy foreign minister Georgy Mamedov and with North Atlantic treaty organization officials.  Secretary of state Warren Christopher is planning to go to Geneva next week to talk to foreign minister Andrei Kozarev and Willy Claes the nato Secretary general 1 nato has no apparent role to play in Chechnya where thousands have been killed or made homeless in a conflict Between Independence minded chechen and troops ordered by russian president Boris Yeltsin to suppress the revolt a the Clinton administration has do dared the rebellion a russian Domestic affair though Germany has raised q questions about russians massive deployment of Armor and troops to the Region. Newsweek photographer Peter Turnley left and time photographer. Christopher mor Ris carry a chechen woman who was hit by a sniper near her Grozny Home monday o Moscow apr even As his troops were closing in on the chechen capital president Boris Yeltsin was. Retreating once again behind the Kremlin Walls leaving russians to wonder if he is his own Man or a Marionette of the military. To Many the russian president seems off course and out of control pursuing a bungled military  that is under lire at analysis Home and abroad. Quot his limited options Are shrinking fast. Withdrawing his troops and seeking a political solution would make him seem w eak. Pressing ahead makes him took like a brute Yeltsin seems oblivious to the criticism , indifferent to the possible loss of foreign Aid Ami deaf to the anger of Ordinary russians. Quot Quot there is widespread speculation that a a silent Coupe a has taken place that Yeltsin has become a figurehead serving More sinister forces. Throughout russians nearly monthlong drive to crush. Chechen Independence Yeltsin has been nearly inv i kill the questions that have haunted his presidency Are being asked with a new urgency. Is he sober is he sick is he sane Hie. He spent the first 10 Days of the War in a Hospital for minor surgery. He has made Only two taped Public addresses on the War. All the questions that have haunted his presidency Are being asked with Quot a new urgency. Is he sober is lie me sick is be Yeltsin very tired a no longer the energetic politician whose defense of democracy captivated the world just three years Quot ago Oleg posts of the head of russian to told associated press television on monday. Last weekend Yeltsin failed to show up for a High profile ceremony to Lay the Cornerstone for a major Cathedral he was last seen by outsiders at a meeting of _ his Security Council on Friday it was there that Yeltsin asked the question that startled a world already appalled at russians bombing of Chechnya. Why he wanted to know had the army disobeyed his order to halt the airs Ricks to cameras were hustled out before defense minister Pavel Grachev answered a if indeed he did. Within hours the russian Effort to smash chechen resistance intensified.  to addresses Yeltsin had told the nation he personally was in control. But Many in Russia including some of Yeltsin sold democratic allies believe the president is no longer his own master. They think Grachev the Interior minister and Yeltsin a personal bodyguard Are running things. His own human rights commissioner Sergei Kovalyov confronted the president a Lew Days ago with the questions troubling the nation. Yeltsin according to Kovalyov brushed off a suggestion he Call a cease fire saying it was a a too