The Chechen president, Mr Aslan Maskhadov, imposed a state of emergency on his breakaway republic last night and mobilised thousands of reservists to reinforce the border against the threat of Russian incursions.
The move, which raised fears of a revival of the two-year war that left tens of thousands dead in the mid-1990s, came as Russian helicopter gunships and bombers in the neighbouring republic of Dagestan stepped up attacks on Islamic militants who invaded from Chechnya and seized a number of Dagestani villages just over a week ago.
Russian transport planes have been running a huge airlift of armoured vehicles and troops into the airport at Makhachkala, the capital of oil-rich Dagestan, during the last few days. Special police units as well as under-trained conscripts have flown in from scores of Russian cities. Volunteers have been offered pay rises of 170 per cent if they join the onslaught on the Islamic invaders, who are estimated to number fewer than 2,000.
Russia's chief of staff, Gen Anatoly Kvashnin, raised the temperature yesterday when he indicated that Russian aircraft may soon strike inside Chechnya itself. "If the guerrillas simply had to be pushed back into Chechnya, we would have done it long ago. But we are speaking about a total liquidation of militants," he said.
His boast, that the task of ejecting the militants was easy, repeated the bombast of the acting prime minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, who said a few days ago that the operation should be over in two weeks. But Russian troops and aircraft have been pounding the mountain villages for several days. Gen Kvashnin himself narrowly escaped death when his helicopter was hit last week.
Russia last night admitted losing another four troops and 20 wounded. Six more Russians are missing, bringing the official death toll to more than 20. Moscow claims at least 200 guerrillas have been killed, while the Islamists boast of killing 130 Russian soldiers and officers, destroying nine helicopters and shooting down one fighter jet.
The Islamists are led partly by a Jordanian fundamentalist known as Khattab, who wants to introduce a rigid Wahhabi form of Islam. But the muscle comes from Mr Shamil Basayev, a veteran commander of the Chechen war and later its prime minister. He has not yet reconciled himself to losing the Chechen presidential election and has been using the crisis to try to discredit the Chechen president.
Mr Maskhadov says he has nothing to do with the Islamists, but his decision to impose a month-long state of emergency is designed to revive his image as a strong defender of Chechen independence. After losing the war in Chechnya, Moscow was forced to pull out all its troops and recognise the republic's de facto independence.
Mr Maskhadov said the "party of war" in Russia, seeking revenge for defeat in the 1994-1996 war, was seeking to provoke tension. "They have created the threat of a new war in the Caucasus and the collapse of previous agreements with the leadership of the Chechen republic," he said.
The decree is also aimed at silencing Mr Maskhadov's domestic opponents. It imposes a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and a ban on all media except the state-owned television.
Opposition circles in Moscow fear that President Yeltsin is also using the crisis for his own purposes. Some fear Mr Yeltsin may be planning a state of emergency for the whole of Russia.
Mr Putin, appointed last week, has hinted that there might be one. So too has Mr Alexander Kotenkov, Mr Yeltsin's liaison officer with the parliament. After meeting the president on Friday, he said Mr Yeltsin wanted deputies to pass a law as soon as possible outlining the framework for imposing a state of emergency.