January 29, 2000
Web posted at: 5:11 a.m. EST (1011 GMT)

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From staff and wire reports

GROZNY, Russia -- Chechen President Aslan Mashadov denied Saturday that a truce had been agreed between his rebel forces and Russian-led units fighting for control of the half-ruined Chechen capital Grozny.

Such reports did "not match the facts", Mashadov told the Moscow news agency Interfax through spokesman Selim Abdumuslimov.

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The battle for Chechnya

Interfax had earlier reported that the commander of a pro-Russian Chechen militia, Bislan Gantamirov, had agreed a truce with some rebel commanders that would lead to some rebels leaving Grozny early on Saturday.

But Abdumusilov said the only contact between the two sides involved exchanges of bodies of those killed.

Russian troops are struggling to push into the center of the Chechen capital -- despite reports of rising casualties.

A leading Russian general said recent losses among the troops had risen at a faster rate than at the start of the campaign, while the leader of a pro-Moscow Chechen militia said he had struck a deal with some of the rebels for a partial truce in Grozny.

Colonel-General Valery Manilov, first deputy chief of the armed forces' general staff, said losses had been rising at a faster rate in recent days.

He told a news conference that 873 army soldiers had been killed since fighting in the region erupted in August, which compared with a previous total of 820 announced on Tuesday.

Acting Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose popularity has been built on early successes in the Chechnya campaign, swore at the funeral of a general in St. Petersburg on Friday that his country would not let itself be torn apart.

"This is the way it has always been throughout our history," he told thousands of mourners for Major-General Mikhail Malofeyev, killed in Grozny on January 17.

But Maskhadov also remained defiant, telling his men to stand firm until February 23, the anniversary of mass deportations under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

"Not one step back," Interfax quoted Maskhadov as saying in an order to his fighters.

After four months of fighting, the Chechens have been driven back to strongholds in Grozny and in the mountains in the south.

Putin defended his Chechnya policy to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday. Annan and a host of other Western and Islamic leaders have repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

But Annan told Putin he understands Russia's desire to root out what it sees as terrorists within its borders, one of the Russian leader's aides said.

A series of deadly bomb attacks inside Russian territory last fall -- which Moscow blames on the rebels -- prompted Russia's advance on Chechnya. The rebels have denied responsibility for the attacks.

The 41-nation Council of Europe, the continent's main human rights body, decided against an immediate suspension of Russia's membership, instead giving Moscow three months to start talks and to ease the suffering of civilians.

Reuters contributed to this report.