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Dudayev suggests direct talks with Yeltsin

LONDON: Chechen rebel leader Dzhokhar Dudayev has proposed direct talks with Russian President Boris Yeltsin to settle the 16-month separatist crisis in Chechnya, Moscow Echo radio reported Sunday.

The radio, monitored by the BBC, said Dudayev made the proposal in a telephone conversation with Duma deputy Konstantin Borovoy.

He also said he thought talks through mediators, as proposed by Yeltsin, would not be successful.-APP