. . . AND THE U.S. WARNS

In Washington, where support for Yeltsin has gradually given way to worry over the war's brutality, the State Department for the first time openly criticized the Yeltsin government, saying the military offensive in Chechnya violated the 1975 Helsinki accord and agreements reached last year by the 52-nation Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe. In the Senate, new Foreign Relations Committee chairman Republican Jesse Helms of North Carolina warned he would push to end U.S. aid to Russia if Yeltsin "can't control his people -- in terms of killing women, children and other innocent people."