Clinton calls for a change of tactics

With his entire Russia policy in growing doubt, President Bill Clinton has written to President Boris Yeltsin appealing to him to change tactics to halt the "enormous civilian casualties" caused by Moscow's military campaign to crush the Chechen u prising.

As far as can be judged, the letter Mr Clinton addressed to the Russian leader on Thursday and whose text has not been made public, does not budge from Washington's stated position that the invasion is an "internal" affair for Russia, justified by the need to maintain the country's territorial integrity.

That argument indeed explained the virtual absence of administration reaction in the early stages of the attack on Grozny. But with evidence mounting daily of bungling by the Russian high command and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, Washington has had to change its tune.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Warren Christopher, the Secretary of State, will meet the Russian Foreign Minister, Andrei Kozyrev, for two days of mid-month talks in Geneva that will be overshadowed by the Chechnya war. Mr Christopher still calls the crisis "a problem that's been created for him [Yeltsin]" - almost as if the Chechens were to blame for the debacle.

Mr Clinton's letter carries the process a stage further, although not far enough for many analysts here who accuse him of making the same mistake the Bush Administration made with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, of linking its fortunes exclusively to Mr Yeltsin even though his days in power were plainly numbered.

"We have to prepare for the post-Yeltsin era," says Michael McFaul of the Carnegie Endowment, who predicts either a last- ditch move to impose a state of emergency in Russia, or a coup, either of the palace or military variety, to remove Mr Yeltsin.

But even if that does not happen, the fallout of the Chechen crisis on US-Russian relations is steadily increasing. The image of Mr Yeltsin as heroic, tank-defying defender of democracy has been supplanted by one of an erratic autocrat lashing out blindly to preserve his faltering grip on power.

On Capitol Hill, it gives more ammunition to Republicans pressing for cuts in foreign aid, of which Russia is one of the largest recipients. It will also strengthen the hand of those favouring an enlargement of Nato to other East European countries, on the grounds that having used force once, Russia will be less hesitant to do so again.

Doggedly, administration officials insist that despite Chechnya, it is still basically business as usual with Moscow. Military co-operation for instance, is said to be proceeding normally. Privately though, they acknowledge the outlook for Russia's fragile democracy grows bleaker with every day that the military assault on Chechnya continues nNew Delhi - Douglas Hurd said he sent a message yesterday to Mr Kozyrev expressing deep concern about continued fighting in Chechnya, Reuter reports "We need three things in Chechnya," the Foreign Secretary said at a news conference. "An early end to the fighting to prevent civilian casualties, human relief ... and a political solution between Russians and Chechens."