CHECHEN REBELS PROTEST RUSSIAN TROOPS' MOVES.

Byline: Associated Press 

On the eve of peace talks with Boris Yeltsin, Chechen separatists said Sunday that their leader might still back out of his trip to Moscow if Russian troops continue offensives.

But a Russian official later said the talks were still on, and the independent television station NTV reported from Grozny, the Chechen capital, that the Chechen delegation would fly to Moscow today.

The Moscow meeting - which comes three weeks before Russia's presidential elections - would be the highest-level talks in the 17-month Chechnya war. Yeltsin is anxious to show voters that he is trying to end the unpopular war.

The rebels, for their part, hope election pressures will push Yeltsin to compromise.

Yeltsin and rebel leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev have said in recent days that they are optimistic for a breakthrough in negotiating a cease-fire. More difficult questions of Chechnya's independence will be put off until later.

Rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency Sunday as saying that some separatist leaders oppose Yandarbiyev's visit, and that a final decision would be made today.

He said the talks were ``threatened by failure because of the military activity of Russian troops.''

A Russian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, later criticized Udugov for suggesting that the talks were in jeopardy, and said he had been assured by the Chechen side Sunday that Yandarbiyev would be in Moscow today as scheduled.