text: Russian army , Chechens open new round of talks . MOSCOW 1996-08-27 Russia 's military commander in Chechnya began new talks with separatist chief-of-staff Aslan Maskhadov on Tuesday , Itar-Tass news agency said . Tass said the talks were taking place in the settlement of Novye Atagi , some 20 km ( 12 miles ) south of the Chechen capital Grozny . The talks had been postponed while the Russians waited for the rebels to return arms and ammunition seized from Russian soldiers at the weekend . The Chechens said on Monday they had returned all the weapons , which they said were seized by a renegade group . The talks between Maskhadov and Russia 's Vyacheslav Tikhomirov are aimed at putting the finishing touches to a ceasefire sealed last week in talks with Russian security chief Alexander Lebed . Lebed , who met Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin on Monday to discuss the progress he made on a political settlement for the breakaway region , has been seeking a meeting with President Boris Yeltsin , who started a holiday near Moscow on Monday .