January 20, 2000
Web posted at: 11:37 a.m. EST (1637 GMT)

In this story: General disappears in Grozny Russia's capture of Grozny is critical Conflicting casualty reports for Russian troops Council of Europe delegation tours war zone RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

GROZNY, Russia (CNN) -- Chechen snipers hiding in fortified multi-story buildings fired down on Russian soldiers in the streets below, halting their advance into the capital of Grozny on Thursday and a Russian general was reported missing in combat.

MESSAGE BOARD The battle for Chechnya

Russian tanks blasted away at the buildings and helicopter gunships hovered overhead, firing down on the rebel positions. The army said its warplanes and helicopters flew more than 200 raids -- possibly the most yet -- in its relentless bombardment of the city.

Reports from the scene describe furious hand-to-hand fighting in Grozny and say that Russian forces are moving in from several directions -- apparently trying to sandwich the guerrillas between their forces and eliminate them.

General disappears in Grozny

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that one of its generals is missing. The ministry said Maj. Gen. Mikhail Malofeyev disappeared Wednesday while his brigade was fighting rebels around Grozny.

Asked if the general had been captured or killed, ministry officials refused to say anything more.

Chechen rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov had earlier told Reuters that guerrillas had captured Malofeyev.

Interfax news agency quoted ministry sources as saying Malofeyev came under an ambush in Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district.

Russia's capture of Grozny is critical

Grozny has been a bastion of rebel resistance throughout Russia's four-month war with Chechnya. Its capture would bolster the Russian forces in field and be seen as a victory after a number of surprise counterattacks by the rebels in Russian-controlled territory.

ITAR-Tass news agency quoted pro-Moscow Chechen militia chief Bislan Gantamirov as saying Russian forces had taken control of the central Minutka Square, in the heart of Grozny. But Chechen rebel commanders deny this and say Russian troops only controlled the square for a short period of time and were driven back.

Russia's NTV television said troops had taken "several key objects" in Grozny, including an important bridge over the Sunzha river that cuts through the city.

Fierce fighting also continued in the southern Chechen mountains, where Russian aircraft and artillery have been pounding Argun Gorge, 30 miles south of Grozny. Several civilians reportedly were killed.

Conflicting casualty reports for Russian troops

Chechen rebels say they're being hit hard in Grozny and report high casualties, but are standing firm in the republican capital against the strengthened Russian attacks.

The Chechen rebel's Web site, Kavkaz.org, said 45 guerrillas had been killed and 60 wounded in the last 24 hours. Usually, the rebels report only a handful of casualties. A Russian military leader, Col. Gaidar Gadzhiyev, had a similar figure, saying about 50 separatists were killed and 100 were wounded on Wednesday. A Russian tank was destroyed, the military said.

But there was more disparity in the figures on Russian casualties.

The rebel Web site reported that 1,500 Russians had died in the last four days while Russian military commanders reported only five soldiers killed and 12 wounded on Wednesday.

But some Russian officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that some 20 members of a single regiment had been killed overnight in northwest Grozny by rebels using sewage tunnels to crawl through the city and surprise Russian troops.

Casualty figures in Chechnya cannot be independently confirmed.

The rebels dismissed earlier reports that unnamed guerrilla commanders were in Moscow for talks, saying all their leaders were fighting in the field. The rebels said they had no plans to meet with a pro-Moscow Chechen businessman who was pushing the talks.

Council of Europe delegation tours war zone

Residents of several villages around Argun Gorge said at least 15 civilians had been killed in air raids in the area since Tuesday. At the edge of the Duba-Yurt village, elders crowded around Russian officers on Wednesday, pleading for an end to shelling.

This suffering of Chechen civilians has prompted intense international criticism of Russia's war. The Council of Europe, a 41-nation human rights body that Russia joined in 1996, will debate Russia's handling of the war on January 27.

A fact-finding delegation is in the war zone this week. Lord David Russel-Johnston, the head of the group, on Thursday repeated the council's call for a cease-fire in Chechnya.

Lord David Russell-Johnston

Russel-Johnston said Russian officials gave reasons for their refusal to talk to the rebels.

"I think that the Russians demonstrated that the nature of the regime was criminal in what it did, in the way that it neglected the schools and health and everything else ... and the hostage-taking and the killing, drugs," he said. But Russel-Johnston said the council could not accept the civilian casualties.

He said the delegation would report what it had seen, but that it was not group's role to make a recommendation on whether Russia should be suspended from the council.

Russia says it entered Chechnya to wipe out Islamic militants who twice invaded Dagestan in August and who are blamed for apartment bombings that killed an estimated 300 people in Russia. The rebels deny responsibility for the apartment bombings.

Correspondent Mike Hanna, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.