November 20, 1999
Web posted at: 6:18 p.m. EST (2318 GMT)

In this story: Rebels resisting in key stronghold Chechen refugees urged to return RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

GROZNY, Russia (CNN) -- Russian commanders say their troops are within three miles (5 km) of Grozny, as federal forces tighten the noose around the Chechen capital and pound villages across the breakaway republic.

Clear skies Saturday allowed Russian warplanes to renew bombing raids on Grozny. Meanwhile, Russian officials began restoring basic utilities to areas occupied by federal troops and urged residents who fled Chechnya to return.

VIDEO Correspondent Matthew Chance reports on the Russian offensive in Chehnya (November 20) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD Russia's future

According to the ITAR-Tass news agency, military officials said that Russian forces had nearly surrounded Grozny, which Russian aircraft have been shelling for weeks.

Saturday's resumed airstrikes came amid intense international criticism of Russia's military campaign in Chechnya. At a summit in Turkey last week, President Boris Yeltsin angrily rejected calls for negotiations to end the seven-week conflict.

Rebels resisting in key stronghold

A day after fog grounded flights, Russian Su-24 attack planes and Mi-24 helicopters flew 70 missions Saturday, the military command said. They focused on some of the last rebel strongholds: Bamut in the west of the Caucasus Mountains republic; Argun, east of the capital; and Urus-Martan, 10 miles (15 km) southwest of Grozny.

Preparing to resist advancing Russian troops, Chechen rebels dug trenches on the outskirts of Urus-Martan, essential to sealing off the Chechen capital.

Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Kazbek Makhashev told Interfax that Urus-Martan was being pummeled Saturday without letup. He said the Russian troops wanted to force residents to flee, then "announce its capture without a single shot."

Meanwhile, Russian ground forces on Saturday seized towns near Chechnya's second-largest city, Gudermes, which the Russians occupied last week.

Chechen refugees urged to return

As the fighting wore on, Russian authorities took steps to persuade some of the 200,000 refugees crowded in Ingushetia to return to villages controlled by troops, promising them they would not be bombed and that basic living conditions would be restored before winter.

Traffic crossing from Ingushetia back into Chechnya was twice as heavy as usual at the main border checkpoint. But many more people are still flooding out of Chechnya, desperate to flee the fighting.

The head of Russia's electricity monopoly, Anatoly Chubais, visited Gudermes on Saturday and turned on the city's gas supplies for the first time in months. He promised electricity within days.

Idriss Elbukayev, a village elder from Assinovskaya, said he expected many people to cross back into the region: "Things are now quiet. People are going about their business, tending their livestock."

Chechnya has effectively been beyond Moscow's control since Russian forces withdrew at the end of a 1994-96 war. Moscow insists its military campaign in the region is only targeting Islamic militant rebels, blamed for terrorist acts around Russia. But human rights groups and Chechen officials say the civilian toll has been high.

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

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