MOSCOW -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared a state of emergency in the Chechen-Ingusheti autonomous republic Friday night, banning demonstrations, imposing a curfew and appointing a provisional administrator to replace local authorities.
The move was an attempt to quash an active nationalist Chechen movement that is seeking independence for the region in the Caucausus Mountains of southern Russia.
Yeltsin's decree Friday night said the National Conghich is leading the independence movement, 'striving to organize public disorders with the use of violence in order to take power from legitimately functioning state organs.'
National Congress leader Dzhokhar Dudaev received 90 percent of the votes in an unsanctioned election in the autonomous republic in October, and he and his nationalist movement have been fighting for full independence from Russia.
Yeltsin's decree appointed the Russian leader's personal representative to the region as head of a 'provisional administration' to run Chechen-Ingusheti, banned demonstrations and strikes, suspended political groups and imposed a curfew for one month.
The Chechen-Ingusheti autonomous republic, with an area of 7,350 sqare miles, has a population of about 1.25 million. The Chechens and Ingushes were conquered by Russia in the late 1850s after 70 years of fighting and Russian rule has continued under the communists.
