MOSCOW, May 12: President Boris Yeltsin and Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov today signed a peace accord laying down the principles of mutual relations between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

However, the accord does not mention anything about the status of the Chechen republic, suspended till the end of the century in accordance with the Khasavyurt Pact signed last August by ex-Security Council chief Alexander Lebed. Speaking to reporters after the signing of the accord, President Yeltsin declared that it puts an ``end to 400 year long war.'' Yeltsin stressed that Russia will develop cooperation with Chechnya.

Maskhadov's government is insisting on full independence from Moscow following the truce that halted a 21-month war in which thousands of people were killed in a Russian military operation against Chechen separatists.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.