ZNAMENSKOYE, Russia -- Inside a dilapidated three-story building with no heat or electricity, the Russian military has set up a puppet government ruled by enemies of Chechen leader Dzhokhar M. Dudayev.
Bundled in overcoats, bureaucrats in dim offices stamp papers with the official scarlet seal of the "Provisional Council of the Chechen Republic." Outside, militiamen with Kalashnikovs keep order among Chechen civilians waiting in unruly queues to seek favors.
In one cold, unadorned office sits Salaambek Khajiev, appointed by Russian authorities as "prime minister" of opposition Chechnya.
A former Soviet minister of oil and gas, Mr. Khajiev seems out of place in his business suit amid the rabble of militiamen and peasants in this bleak crossroads 50 miles northwest of Grozny.
For nearly four years, Mr. Khajiev has fought political battles with Mr. Dudayev, the leader of Chechen fighters at war with 40,000 Russian troops. Now he has the formal blessing of the political leadership in Moscow, which is determined to crush Mr. Dudayev's drive for Chechen independence.
As the war drags on after seven weeks, Mr. Khajiev presides over a poorly organized government-in-waiting. He is burdened with questionable public support and an unpleasant aura of collaboration with a Russian military that has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, of civilians.
But like his Russian patrons, Mr. Khajiev is optimistic. During an hourlong interview last week, he predicted that most of Grozny would be safe enough within days for civilians to return to their homes.
When asked how people could return to homes that no longer exist after weeks of Russian bombardments, Mr. Khajiev replied: "Well, we have a lot of rebuilding to do."
Mr. Khajiev said he intended to move his headquarters to Grozny soon as Russian troops "mop up" Chechen resistance in the capital.
He is holed up now in Znamenskoye in the Nadterechny district, the Chechen area most bitterly opposed to Mr. Dudayev.
As a Chechen, Mr. Khajiev acknowledges that his heart is not entirely with the Russians. He has accused Russian Interior Department forces of looting captured Chechen villages and has asked Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, without effect, to halt the bombardment of Chechen towns.
The fight to oust Mr. Dudayev is not only verbal.
In the months preceding the war with Russia, the militias of rival opposition leaders fought bloody skirmishes in Grozny.
Last year, fighters loyal to several different opposition leaders tried and failed to topple Mr. Dudayev.
One of those leaders, Ruslan Labazanov, since has survived a car-bomb attempt and a mail bomb that leveled his house and killed a bodyguard.
These days, Mr. Labazanov operates from a fortified compound in Tolstoy-Yurt, the site of the main Russian forward base on Grozny's northern outskirts.
Mr. Labazanov dresses in camouflage fatigues, carries two Russian-made Stechkin pistols in armpit holsters and keeps a bayonet strapped to his leg.
Mr. Labazanov, who was once Mr. Dudayev's security chief, said of his former boss: "He should be shot."
Mr. Labazanov and Mr. Khajiev both refer to Mr. Dudayev as a "war criminal." They say he has resorted to totalitarian tactics to remain in power.
While many Chechens blame the war on Mr. Yeltsin, opposition leaders blame Mr. Dudayev. They say his armed rebellion and repressive regime gave Mr. Yeltsin no choice but to crush him; failure to act might encourage independence drives in other Caucasus republics.
Once Russian troops put down the rebellion -- Mr. Khajiev declined to predict when -- he said he would call for elections in Chechnya.
"After troops have done away with Dudayev, the people's resentment for the Russians will fade," Mr. Khajiev said. "They will realize they have nothing to fear from remaining within Russia. Their attitudes will improve."
But in Tolstoy-Yurt, Mr. Labazanov said the brutality of the Russian onslaught has forced many Chechens once opposed to Mr. Dudayev to rally around him.
"All these Chechens can do now is shout: 'The Russians are coming!' " Mr. Labazanov said. "They've forgotten about toppling Dudayev. All they care about now is killing Russians."
One of them is Said-Ahmed Terloyev, a mechanic who joined the resistance after his village was bombed by Russian warplanes two weeks ago. "The Russians are invaders, and any Chechen who works with them is a collaborator who deserves to die," he said.