YELTSIN WARY OF CHECHEN PEACE.

Byline: Associated Press 

President Boris Yeltsin cast doubt Saturday on the validity of a peace accord signed by his security chief and Chechen rebel leaders, saying the document demanded ``additional evaluation and assessment.''

The skeptical statement from Yeltsin came just hours after Alexander Lebed and the top separatist commander, Aslan Maskhadov, declared an end to the 20-month war in Chechnya that has killed more than 30,000 people and ravaged the tiny southern republic.

Despite the doubts, the two sides continued withdrawing their forces from Grozny, leaving the capital in the hands of joint Russian-Chechen patrols.

Nearly all Russian and separatist forces pulled out Saturday from the charred and crumbling city, fueling hope that the bloodshed might be ending.

``It's a very important day for peace,'' said Col. Vladimir Kostenkov, a Russian representative of the joint command.

Elated Chechens danced and shouted for joy in villages west of Grozny as convoys of rebel fighters drove out with fists raised victoriously.

The mood contrasted sharply with that of poker-faced and subdued Russian troops, who left the capital in long columns of hundreds of armored vehicles.

``The war is over,'' Lebed announced before dawn Saturday after signing his breakthrough agreement in Khasavyurt, a town in the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan. ``We've fought more than enough.''

But Yeltsin, who ordered troops into Chechnya in December 1994, failed to endorse the peace pact immediately.

Yeltsin said through a spokesman that he was awaiting a detailed report from Lebed, adding that the documents signed ``demand additional evaluation and assessment.''

The president has distanced himself from Lebed since putting him in charge of ending the Chechen conflict on Aug. 10, perhaps preparing a way out for himself if the former paratroop general fails.

Yeltsin's spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, said changes have been made since a draft was worked out at a meeting Thursday among Lebed, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and other senior officials.

A Kremlin official who spoke on condition of anonymity said presidential endorsement might not come soon, adding that whole sections of the draft have been deleted or altered.

Yeltsin wants to see the written version of the agreement and to have government experts examine the document for effects of the changes, the official said.

Lebed said Chernomyrdin will hold a special government meeting Monday to discuss the peace pact, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Russian newspapers, including some liberal ones, criticized the deal, saying Lebed was giving in to the rebels.

``Russia is not even surrendering to another state, it is surrendering to something much worse: chaos,'' the daily Kommersant wrote.