WorldView

Chechen Conflict: Battle for Control of Grozny Intensifying

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SONIA RUSELER, CNN ANCHOR: The battle for control of the Chechen capital, Grozny, is intensifying. The Russian military is pounding the city with artillery from outlying hills. Chechen rebels are fiercely defending pockets of the city. Russian troops trying to advance onto a key square are facing heavy sniper fire.

Moscow released figures Tuesday showing that over 1,000 troops have died since the fighting began more than four months ago. The independent Soldiers' Mothers Committee disputes that, estimating the death toll at 3,000.

CNN's Steve Harrigan filed this report from Grozny.

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STEVE HARRIGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Snipers, machine guns, grenade launchers, tanks: enough hardware to level the city of Grozny, but not enough, so far, to take it.

PAVEL FELGENHAUER, MILITARY ANALYST: If you use conventional shells and conventional bombs in a modern city, well, you turn the buildings into rubble, but even in the rubble, a determined infantry force can fight. To really take a city, the Russians need good infantry. And their main problem right now in Chechnya is they don't have any good infantry at all.

HARRIGAN: Inside shattered buildings, the fighting is fast, hit and run. Superior Russian numbers and firepower, which enabled the army to sweep across the northern plains of Chechnya, have been less effective in the capital.

ANDREI KORTUNOV, POLITICAL ANALYST: You cannot resolve the problem through sheer power. You cannot solve the problem by military means only. You need to have some political dialog.

HARRIGAN: In part of the city now under Russian control, that dialog has begun.

(on camera): The job for the Russians won't be easy, to win over the citizens in one part of the city and to fight a war in another.

(voice-over): For some Chechens, it's an offer they can no longer refuse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The strength is gone in my legs. The end is near for me. We'll do whatever they want.

HARRIGAN: Across town, there is no dialog. Just one word is shouted, over and again: "Fire."

Steve Harrigan, CNN, Grozny, Chechnya.

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