RUSSIAN TROOPS FINALLY HAD TO do the job the only way that works in the center of a city. They blasted their way through Grozny building by building. Backed by tanks and artillery, infantrymen probed the deserted streets for bands of Chechen rebels hiding out in basements and rubble-strewn upper stories. After pounding each block with high-explosive shells and rockets, rifle-toting Russian soldiers moved up, closing in on the presidential palace, which had become the symbol of Chechnya's effort to secede from the Russian Federation. On Saturday they had captured the Council of Ministers building, just a few hundred yards from...
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