Russia insists it's winning Chechnya war despite losses

Relatives of 18 Russian police killed in a rebel ambush in Grozny mourned their loved ones at a funeral on Monday

March 6, 2000
Web posted at: 2:27 p.m. EST (1927 GMT)

In this story: Fighting intensifies Rebels seize village Russia says campaign in final stages RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

MOSCOW -- Russian commanders maintain they are in the final stages of finishing off rebel forces in Chechnya, despite the loss of scores of Russian troops during the most recent fighting.

"The rebels are surrounded and we are destroying them," a Russian military spokesman said Monday of a battle in the mountainous south of Chechnya. "It appears there have been about 600 rebel casualties. Unfortunately, we have also suffered casualties."

The news of the fresh losses came as a funeral was held Monday in a church near Moscow for 18 Russian police officers killed in a rebel ambush in Grozny last week.

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CNN's Matthew Chance reports on recent Russian losses. (March 6) Windows Media 28K 80K

Women wept as their families surrounded open coffins and Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo, who attended the ceremony, vowed retribution for the deaths.

"Our task is to find who killed the soldiers," Interfax quoted him as saying. "We will find those who did this and retribution will be dealt out accordingly."

Fighting intensifies

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe postponed until the weekend a fact-finding mission to Chechnya, which had been scheduled to begin Monday, due to the increased intensity of the fighting.

A visit to the rebel republic by the presidential aide on Chechnya, Vladimir Kalamanov, also was postponed because of the latest fighting, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Russian TV showed Chechen rebels captured by Russian troops over the weekend

Rebels seize village

Russian military officials admitted Monday that rebel fighters had broken their lines and seized a village in southern Chechnya.

Russian Maj. Gen. Yuri Naumov said several dozen rebels managed to enter Komsomolskoye village Sunday night and had occupied it. Russian artillery targeted the village Monday in an effort to oust the fighters.

Residents fled as Russian artillery destroyed almost all the homes on the southern edge of the village.

A Russian officer manning a checkpoint near Komsomolskoye said up to 50 Russian troops had been killed and others wounded since Sunday in the rebel attacks.

The rebels contended that many more Russian troops had been killed and wounded in hit and run attacks.

Russia says campaign in final stages

But Russian commanders insist they are in the final stages of winning the war in Chechnya.

Col. Gen. Gennady Troshev told Russian television that his troops had killed more than 1,000 rebels in the battles which had raged near the key Argun gorge.

Russian commanders say they are in the final stages of finishing off the rebel forces

Russia's leadership had said the Argun gorge was under its control, but on Friday rebels killed 31 paratroopers in fierce battles near the villages of Ulus-Kert and Selmentausen as they tried to break out of the gorge into Chechnya's flatland.

"For several days there has been quite intensive fighting," Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Russia's main spokesman on the conflict, was quoted as saying. He said bad weather had limited the number of sorties conducted by warplanes and added that the rebels were offering stiff resistance near the mountain villages.

Overall Russian casualties from the weekend fighting were not mentioned Monday in official reports, which said only that that federal forces had beaten back the rebels near Komsomolskoye.

The Russian command said about 40 wounded rebel fighters had been captured and another 30 surrendered their weapons around over the weekend.

Russia sent ground forces into Chechnya in late September after Chechnya-based Muslim fighters invaded the neighboring republic of Dagestan. Russian authorities also blamed the rebels for a series of apartment bombings in Russia that killed about 300 people. The rebels deny involvement in the bomb attacks.

Correspondent Matthew Chance, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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