The Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, has stepped back from an earlier statement in which he predicted an early end to the conflict in Chechnya. On the main Russian ORT television channel, he told viewers yesterday evening that the "military operations against terrorists" were "far from being completed".
Mr Putin's statement was just one of the many conflicting views emanating from Russian officials on the situation in Chechnya.
Mr Beslan Gantemirov, the former Mayor of Grozny, who may be installed as head of a Russian government of Chechnya, announced that he and 1,500 pro-Moscow Chechens were already in the Chechen capital fighting side by side with Russian paratroops against the Chechen rebels. But Russian military sources insisted that there was no fighting in Grozny.
The privately-owned NTV channel, however, reported intense fighting on the western and southern outskirts of the city. Such skirmishes have continued for several weeks.
The station last night showed its first pictures from inside the city with shots of civilians, mainly women, living in candlelit cellars. Guerrillas had, the station reported, enough food and ammunition to last for three months.
The defence minister, Mr Igor Sergeyev, on a visit to Belgrade, insisted that no storming of the city would take place, but that the "special operation" necessary to capture Grozny would be carried out by Mr Gantemirov's militia.
His selection as Moscow's favoured Chechen leader has worked well for Mr Gantemirov. He had been serving a severe prison sentence for embezzlement of state funds when he was released on Mr Putin's orders, to be installed as Chechnya's potential new governor.
Mr Sergeyev also ruled out any talks with the Chechen President, Mr Aslan Maskhadov. "The Russian military leadership has repeatedly said it is ready to negotiate with all sound forces in Chechnya on condition that hostages are released and terrorists are disarmed." As Mr Mash kadov was unable to fulfil these conditions, he could not be separated from the terrorists, he said.
Another pro-Moscow Chechen, Mr Malik Saidullaev, who runs a lottery in Russia, insisted yesterday that a massacre by Russian mercenaries did take place in the village of Alkhan Yurt, as first reported some weeks ago by the international organisation, Human Rights Watch.
At least 42 people had been summarily executed in the village, Mr Saidullaev said. Mercenaries, known as kontraktniki, have been recruited by Russia in the conflicts in the northern Caucasus. Kontraktniki were accused of a similar massacre in the village of Samashki in the previous Chechen war.
President Boris Yeltsin's representative in Chechnya, Mr Nikolai Koshman, confirmed in a TV interview that an inquiry into the allegations had begun and that the results would be known in about 10 days. He had, he said, visited the village and seen the destruction there.
Mr Koshman's official spokesman, Mr Sergei Oleinik, appeared to predict the results of the inquiry by denying categorically that any massacre had taken place. Mr Oleinik, a former TASS correspondent in Dublin, told both major Russian news agencies, ITAR-TASS and Interfax, that there was no question of any shooting or execution of the inhabitants of Alkhan Yurt, and that this had been confirmed by the head of the village administration.
Troops had come under fire, Mr Oleinik said, and "in such a position were forced to hit back at the fighters' positions".
The final results of the Duma election were announced yesterday evening by the head of the state election commission, Mr Alexander Veshyakov. These gave the Duma the following composition: Communists 113 seats, Unity 72, Fatherland-All Russia (OVR) 66, Union of Rightist Forces 29, Yabloko 21, and Zhirinovsky Bloc 17.
Anti-Kremlin candidates will have 200 seats in the new Duma compared with 118 for Putin supporters.
A group led by the Tatarstan president, Mr Mintimier Shaimiyev, has urged that OVR take a pro-government stance. This could cause a major split in the movement headed by Moscow's mayor, Mr Yuri Luzhkov, and the former prime minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov.
Only 157 of the 450 deputies in the old Duma retained their seats.