The current Russian military commander has never even met with his Chechen counterpart.

On Saturday as Mr. Lebed and his Chechen counterpart, Aslan Maskhadov, met for five hours, their entourages struggled to sit comfortably with each other in the courtyard outside.

The withdrawal was suspended after Russian commanders complained that their Chechen counterparts had failed to keep their part of the deal.

Like his Chechen counterpart, he did not want to be identified by his last name.

The 100,000 Russian soldiers in the region have faced only light resistance so far from their 6,000 Chechen counterparts, but now Chechen commanders are threatening a counterattack.

Moscow and the Chechen rebels have reached cease-fires and peace agreements before, but today was the first time that Mr. Yeltsin signed a peace treaty with a Chechen counterpart.

Neither did his Chechen counterpart, Usman Imayev.

He then left for Novye Atagi to continue talks with his Chechen counterpart, Aslan Maskhadov.

After signing a peace treaty with his Chechen counterpart, Aslan Maskhadov, on Aug. 22, he said: "I know there will be critics of these accords among both democrats and great patriots.

It was in the broad courtyard of Mr. Lorzanov's home this week that Mr. Lebed met with his Chechen military counterpart, Mr. Maskhadov.