Mr. Yeltsin predicted a swift end to the Chechnya conflict, saying: "In another month we will finish off the terrorists.

Mr. Putin has sought to cloak the Chechnya conflict in the same patriotic trappings.

The majority of the early recipients of the title fell into two categories: participants in the Chechnya conflicts or cosmonauts.

But other administration officials suggested at the time that the Chechnya conflict had heightened the political sensitivity of economic cooperation with Russia.

"Terror in Moscow," which was first shown on Channel 4 in Britain, does not seek to explain the Chechnya conflict.

Assenting to either proposal would bolster Russia's defenses against international criticism of its handling of the Chechnya conflict.

The Chechnya conflict has been shaped in part by Islamic fundamentalism.

In its assessment of Russia's human rights record, the report basically repeated what senior administration officials have said since the Chechnya conflict intensified last fall.

The Chechnya conflict is of course a major problem.

It has supported the victims of the second Chechnya conflict since its very beginning and will continue to do so.