December 6, 1999
Web posted at: 10:40 p.m. EST (0340 GMT)

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From staff and wire reports

GROZNY, Russia (CNN) -- Chechen refugees are fleeing the battered breakaway republic's capital, Grozny, prompted by the warning of a massive attack by Russian troops surrounding the city.

Scores of people were seen Monday traveling on a road leading west out of Grozny. Families fled on foot and by car, telling of a city in terror. Some of the refugees said many people they left behind inside Grozny were unable to leave.

Russia's migration service said it expected 20,000 to 30,000 refugees to flee Grozny in the next few days.

Russia's military dropped leaflets around Grozny Monday, tersely warning residents they have five days to leave the Chechen capital or face certain death.

"Those who remain will be viewed as terrorists and bandits," said the leaflet, read on Russian television. "They will be destroyed by artillery and aviation. There will be no more talks. All those who do not leave the city will be destroyed. The countdown has started."

The leaflet promised that a safety corridor through the village of Pervomaiskoye, in the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan, would be available to the capital's embattled residents until Saturday.

Russian commanders said their troops had secured all roads leading out of the capital, and gave the estimated 5,000 militants inside a heavily fortified Grozny no chance of winning.

"We will destroy them. If they run away, we will destroy them in the mountains," said Russian Army Gen. Vladimir Bulgakov. "We will beat them until the last bandit is buried under ground."

That warning drew criticism Monday from U.S. President Bill Clinton, during a Washington speech on human rights.

"That means that there is a threat to lives of the old, the infirm, the injured people and other innocent civilians who simply cannot leave or are too scared to leave their homes," he said.

"Russia will pay a heavy price for those actions, with each passing day, sinking more deeply into a morass that will intensify extremism and diminish its own standing in the world," Clinton said.

Russian forces entered Chechnya from Dagestan in September, pursuing Islamic rebels who had twice invaded Dagestan. They quickly secured the northern third of Chechnya, a breakaway republic left out of Moscow's control after a disastrous 1994-1996 war, but have encountered stiffer resistance as they neared the capital and rebel strongholds in the mountainous south.

Russia also holds the militants responsible for a series of deadly bombings inside Russia over the summer, although the rebels and Chechnya's government deny responsibility.

Fearing a repeat of the earlier war -- in which heavy Russian casualties forced a humiliating withdrawal -- Russia has relied on artillery and air attacks in this campaign, however, leaving its soldiers far outside the reach of rebel guns.

The near constant rain of missiles on Grozny and other parts of Chechnya has left an unknown number of civilian casualties -- and spurred harsh criticism from other Islamic countries and the West. Russia has rejected the criticism, claiming the offensive is intrinsic to its national security.

"The aim of our policy is to strengthen the state," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on state television. "As far as our relations with the West, we cannot imagine Russia outside the world community, and we will not allow that to happen. We will be attractive for the West only as long as we are a capable and strong state."

But as the rebel resistance stiffens, the air and artillery campaign that has kept Russian soldiers out of harm's way -- and kept support for the war high in Russia -- is becoming less effective. The outcome of a ground war has but one certainty, however -- many more Russian casualties.

And while Russia's campaign to the south grinds on, the territory already under Russian control may become more difficult to master.

"You can't tell them apart," said Russian riot police spokesman Vladimir Savin. "During the day they act normal, at night they shoot at you. Without a weapon, he's a civilian, right? If he gets a weapon, he's a rebel."

The Russians are offering money, in the form of salaries and pensions, to keep citizens from that transformation.

"We are ready to give money out," Army Gen. Ivan Babichev told the Chechens. "I have money right now. I'm ready to hand it out. Now it depends on you."

Correspondent Steve Harrigan, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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