U.S. TO RUSSIA . . . DO WHAT YOU WANT

After two days of talks in Geneva, Russian officials managed to ward off any punitive action by the Clinton administration regarding theChechnya crisis. Russian Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev agreed to hold elections in Chechnya after the crisis was dealt with, and even said he would consider allowing international observers to be present. For his part, Christopher warned the Russians that Congress might nix any new aid package to punish the Russians for their brutality in Chechnya. However, notesTIME correspondent Ann Simmons, by agreeing that the Chechnya crisis was an internal affair, the Clinton administration has in effect separated Russia's behavior there from the issue of U.S. aid. "It seems like Russia has the green light to go ahead and deal with the Chechnya crisis as it will."