MOSCOW, Nov 18: Negotiators for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov opened their first direct peace talks on Sunday in a bid to end a 25-month war in the Chechen republic that has claimed more than 15,000 lives.

Held in a secret government estate on the outskirts of Moscow, the talks were led by Putin’s southern Russia envoy Viktor Kazantsev and Maskhadov’s official representative Akhmed Zakayev.

The meeting has been repeatedly postponed while the two sides struggled to find any common ground that was open to negotiation — from Chechnya’s future status to the terms of a possible ceasefire and disarmament agreement.

Zakayev said before leaving Istanbul for Moscow that he was coming with specific instructions from Maskhadov to negotiate an end to the campaign, although other Chechen officials warned against expecting any breakthroughs in the first round of talks.

“This meeting comes as a result of Putin’s statement from Sep 24, in which he invited the Chechen side to open dialogue with his representative, and negotiate conditions for ending the war in Chechnya,” Zakayev said by telephone from Istanbul.

Kazantsev, a former top general in the Chechnya campaign, has demanded that guerillas — who are estimated to number anywhere between 1,000 and 5,000, lay down their arms before any peace talks could begin.

The Chechens immediately dismissed his offer. Nevertheless, telephone consultations between the two sides continued after Putin on September 24 declared that he would hold talks with separatists who renounced their support of “terrorist” rebel leaders.

The initial Russian media reports of the negotiations on Sunday quoted one Moscow official as saying that the talks were proceeding “in a well-disposed, working atmosphere” and likely to continue for several days.

“Moscow agrees (to hold new talks) in almost any location inside Russia, but the meeting cannot be held abroad,” a government source told ITAR-TASS.

Those comments confirmed the Kremlin’s refusal to grant any third party — including European parliamentarians — the authority to act as middlemen in the peace talks, which Moscow insists are an internal Russian affair.

It remains unclear quite how Moscow now intends to pursue the peace process. Russia remains unwilling to negotiate the future status of Chechnya while Maskhadov — whose rule is no longer recognized by the Kremlin — demands full independence for his republic.

“This is an attempt to establish the framework for future negotiations,” Maskhadov aide Mairbek Vachagayev told Echo Moscow radio. “They will not be discussing any specific disarmament issues.”

Previous hints of peace talks between Moscow and Maskhadov’s aides have been denounced by both the more radical Chechen warlords — such as Shamil Basayev and Khattab — and some Russian army units.

Military analysts have also expressed strong doubts about whether the Kremlin had a clear-cut strategy on how to end the war. —AFP