RUSSIAN forces attacked rebel positions in Chechnya yesterday with warplanes and artillery, apparently frying to win ground and strengthen President Yeltsin's hand before he unveils a peace plan.
Mr Yeltsin is due to announce the plan on Sunday. It is expected to fry to end 15 months of bloodshed in rebel Chechnya and improve his chances of winning a second term in the Kremlin in the June 16th poll.
The security forces, seeking to carve out a chance for Mr Yeltsin to speak from a position of strength, have stepped up their offensive in the south east and south west of the territory in recent weeks.
Most of the separatists loyal to the rebel leader, Gen Dzhokhar Dudayev, are based in mountains in the south.
"After the President of Russia promised to announce on March 31st a plan for a Chechen settlement which does not provide for large scale operations, the military has little time left to end active military action", Mr Ruslan Martagov, a spokesman for the pro Moscow Chechen government, told ITAR TASS news agency.
About 30,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since Mr Yeltsin sent thousands of troops into the North Caucasus region to crush its independence drive in December 1994. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.