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DATE=11/18/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=OSCE SUMMIT/RUSSIA ()S/L - UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-256333
BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN
DATELINE=ISTANBUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Russia will now allow the chairman of the 
Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe to 
visit Chechnya so he can study how to resolve the 
conflict there peacefully.  The softening of Moscow's 
attitude on Thursday is expected to allow agreement on 
closing declarations at the O-S-C-E's summit meeting 
now underway in Istanbul, Turkey.  Correspondent 
Laurie Kassman reports from Istanbul some of the 54 O-
S-C-E members had resisted signing the final documents 
until Russia agreed to the organization's demands.
TEXT:  U-S Secretary of State Madeline Albright says 
Russian President Boris Yeltsin has agreed to O-S-C-E 
demands.  In turn, the member-states have accepted 
language in the final summit declaration that 
recognizes Russia's sovereign right to combat 
terrorism.
            /// ALBRIGHT ACT ///
      What we managed to do is first recognize the 
      territorial integrity of Russia and condemn 
      terrorism, but also to make quite clear that 
      there needs to be respect for the O-S-C-E norms.
            /// END ACT ///
Secretary of State Albright says Moscow has also 
accepted that the O-S-C-E can contribute to a 
political solution to the Chechen crisis and can also 
help deal with the humanitarian crisis provoked by the 
military offensive in Chechnya.
            /// OPT THE REST FOR SHORT CR ///
Earlier in the day, O-S-C-E leaders sharply criticized 
Russian President Boris Yeltsin for his military 
offensive in Chechnya, which most described as an 
exaggerated use of force.  U-S President Bill Clinton 
warned it could intensify the cycle of violence there.  
French President Jacques Chirac called it a tragic 
mistake.
Speaking through an interpreter, the Russian leader 
warned his colleagues against meddling in Russia's 
fight against terrorism.
            /// YELTSIN ACT ///
      I'm convinced that Russia as well as the other 
      members of the O-S-C-E today particularly needs 
      a respectful dialogue, not mutual reproaches or 
      sermonizing.
            /// END ACT ///
Russia's resistance to O-S-C-E demands to help resolve 
the Chechen crisis peacefully had blocked the 
necessary consensus for key security documents at the 
O-S -C-E meeting.  Among those documents are a 
security charter enhancing the organization's 
peacekeeping role in regional conflicts and the 
updated Conventional Weapons Treaty.(SIGNED)
NEB/LK/JP
18-Nov-1999 15:03 PM EDT (18-Nov-1999 2003 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.