Putin changes tactics in Chechnya

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin is to withdraw the bulk of his army from Chechnya in a switch of tactics to smaller, swifter units.

Total forces currently stationed in the troubled region amount to 80,000 the Kremlin says, including army and Interior Ministry units.

The plan will be to have an army division numbering 15,000 with an Interior Ministry brigade of 7,000 servicemen permanently based in Chechnya, Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying on Monday.

The soldiers will come under the command of the FSB domestic security service, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, instead of the Defence Ministry.

Putin told NTV television that this marked a new phase in "counter-terrorism operations."

Russian troops are nominally in control of most of Chechnya after a 15-month offensive against separatists, ordered by Putin during his campaign for Russian president.

But 2,700 Russian soldiers have died, officials say, mainly as a result of ambushes.

Russian news agencies reported running street battles between Russian forces and Chechen separatists during the weekend in Gudermes, the region's second town.

Chechens said they had killed at least 20 Russian soldiers and two pro-Moscow Chechen policemen, claims denied by the Russians.

"The shooting was intensive, but rather short," said an aide to the Kremlin's chief spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky.

"We cannot speak of 20 dead because that is simply absurd."

The official in Yastrzhembsky's office confirmed reports of an attack on a local police post by separatists, resulting in the deaths of four officers, as well as a bomb explosion in a cafe in Gudermes that injured several civilians and one soldier.

Russian military chiefs have said they want to use small, mobile units to eliminate the separatists.

Putin added: "I have decided today to partially withdraw troops from the republic (Chechnya).

"This does not mean the end of the counter-terrorism operation.

"On the contrary, it will be continued, and not less intensively but with the use of different means and forces and with a different emphasis."

Putin is also extending powers to pro-Moscow Chechen leaders to try to get Chechnya, shattered by two Kremlin crackdowns since 1994, back on its feet.

FSB spokesman Alexander Zdanovich said Putin's decision did not rule out the use of Interior Ministry troops if needed, but focused on the use of special forces.

"This decision by the president was not a spontaneous one. We have discussed many issues and this is the final result, it is about intensifying and concentrating our forces," he said, adding that operations would now be focused on fighting small bands of separatist rebels and targeting their commanders.

The withdrawal of troops would not happen immediately but when conditions allowed.

Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed leader of Chechnya's regional administration, was shown on state-run ORT television saying he applauded the president's quick decision.

"Delays were not good for us," he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Chechen Republic Online
Council of Europe Portal
Human Rights Watch - Chechnya
Kavkaz Centre - Chechen News Agency
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Federal Security Service (FSB)

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