December 23, 1999
Web posted at: 10:27 a.m. EST (1527 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

GROZNY, Russia (CNN) -- As their political bosses talked with Western officials about arms control and the correctness of Russia's Chechnya campaign, Russian military commanders said Thursday the rebel republic would be free of militant control in less than a month.

"Within a mere two weeks, three at most, we are planning to establish full control of the mountain areas of Chechnya," said Col. Viktor Kazantsev in an interview in the Krasnaya Zvezda armed forces newspaper.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, riding a wave of popularity in Russia because of the Chechen campaign, said Russian forces were now fighting only "pockets of resistance" in the Caucasus republic, ITAR-Tass news agency reported. The agency quoted him as saying "almost all the territory of Chechnya is now controlled by the federal forces."

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In three months of fighting, Russian forces have pushed across the lowlands of northern Chechnya, up to the outskirts of the republic's capital, Grozny. From positions in the hills around the city, the Russians have kept up a near-constant barrage of artillery and air fire aimed at forcing the rebels out of the city, quashing their independence movement and gaining full control of Chechnya.

But Grozny -- and rebel strongholds in the mountains of southern Chechnya -- are much better fortified than the towns and villages of the north.

Russia wants to avoid the massive casualties it suffered in a similar Chechen campaign just a few years ago. Kazantsev has consistently said that Russian forces had no plans to storm the capital as they did in the earlier war, but were prepared with a "special operation" to take the city.

"There will be no storming of Grozny," the colonel said. "There is simply no military necessity for this."

Russia has revised its prediction for an end to the military offensive several times, but the campaign has been supported all along by the public, according to opinion polls inside Russia.

East-West disagreement

Russia first sent troops into Chechnya in 1994 to quell rebels fighting for the republic's independence, but the campaign ended disastrously in 1996. The Caucasus region, while nominally still a Russian republic, was left outside Moscow's control.

In the summer of 1999, Chechen rebels invaded neighboring Dagestan and were beaten back by Russian forces. After a second invasion, Russia pursued the rebels into Chechnya. Russia says the campaign is necessary to wipe out terrorists it believes are responsible for deadly bombings that killed about 300 people inside Russian territory. Rebels deny responsibility.

The West has raised many objections to Russia's offensive, chiefly over the apparent disregard for safety of civilians inside the battered republic.

In Moscow, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, following a meeting with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, told reporters there were "substantial differences" between the U.S. and Russian positions.

"We want very much to see Russia deal with what is a global problem ... of extremism and terrorism, but to see that Russia deals with that problem in a fashion that meets international norms," Talbott said. "And the feeling is that this standard has not been met."

Officials estimate anywhere between 4,000 and 40,000 civilians are trapped inside Grozny, unable or unwilling to risk Russian bombs to flee the city. Nearly a quarter of a million Chechens have fled the territory, most to neighboring Ingushetia.

Talbott also spoke with the Russian leaders about the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, calling on Russian President Boris Yeltsin and U.S. President Bill Clinton to intervene for a settlement.

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

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