CANADA: HALIFAX: G7 SUMMIT: UPDATE

(17 Jun 1995) Russian, Eng, Nat The G7 summit ended with a political bombshell Saturday when Boris Yeltsin claimed that Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev had been granted political asylum in Turkey. Waving his arms, the president said Moscow did not care where he goes as long as it is far, far away from Russia. This latest development could help end the Chechen war. but a top rebel official has denied the claim. A final meeting between Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin and the Russian leader was in theatrical form. Scowling at the press, Yeltsin blasted Chechen rebels as criminals and bandits and justified Russia s harsh military crackdown: SOUNDBITE: (Russian) After my discussions yesterday, and I once again reiterated that today to our partners in the G7, and told them what kind of people we are dealing with, what kind of horrible criminals with black bands on their foreheads. They now much better understand that this is really the only way we can deal with these criminal