November 24, 1999
Web posted at: 8:07 p.m. EST (0107 GMT)

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From staff and wire reports

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday that he's pledging another 3 billion rubles ($115 million) to continue fighting rebels in Chechnya, but has agreed to talks to allow a representative of Europe's foremost security group to visit the contested region.

VIDEO CNN's Steve Harrigan reports that Russian troops are gaining ground in Chechnya Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Matthew Chance reports on the Chechnya conflict and Russian economy (November 24) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Matthew chance reports on the bombing of Urus-Martan (November 23) QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD Russia's future

Russia, after an initial refusal, agreed on Wednesday to hold talks with the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to plan a trip to Chechnya.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov agreed to meet Knut Vollebaek, chairman of the OSCE and Norway's foreign minister, in Moscow on Monday, according to Vollebaek's spokesman, Ingvard Havnen.

"Ivanov has also accepted an OSCE visit to the (Chechnya) region in the first half of December," Havnen said. "We welcome this plan."

The Russian military says it has Chechnya's capital, Grozny, nearly surrounded. But forces are now moving slowly, expecting to encounter their strongest rebel resistance yet when they move into the capital and the rebel stronghold town of Urus Martan, which guards the approach to Grozny.

Russian jets and artillery pummeled Urus Martan on Tuesday, but no new attacks were reported on Wednesday. The Russian military says that the number of rebel fighters in Urus Martan, one of the largest cities in Chechnya, had risen to 3,500, according to the news agency Interfax.

The rebels have been reinforcing in and around Grozny and Urus Martan in expectation of a major offensive by Russian troops. Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov said rebels have promised to defend Urus Martan through the winter.

The Russian military says Grozny, the scene of bloody fighting in the 1994-1996 Chechen war that resulted in Russia's loss of control of the breakaway republic, is now 80 percent surrounded.

Chechen military commandant Mumadi Saydayev denied that claim on Wednesday, saying approaches to the south and east remained open.

Saydayev also brushed aside Russian reports that Chechen fighters were leaving the capital en masse and taking refuge in the southern mountains. "All are in their positions," Interfax quoted him as saying.

Russian bombers and helicopters flew 86 sorties over the past 24 hours, the military announced Wednesday. It said that 10 trucks, six defense positions, a communications post and an anti-aircraft gun were among the Chechen targets destroyed.

Russians said the Chechens were mining Grozny, and that 80 Afghan-trained fighters had arrived in Chechnya through neighboring Georgia, Interfax reported. Georgian officials have repeatedly denied that militants are being allowed to cross the border.

Putin, a former KGB spy whose tough stance on Chechnya has made him very popular in Russia, has said repeatedly that the army will not back down.

The Russian Information Agency quoted Putin as saying, "It is not our aim to encircle the terrorists. Our aim is to destroy them and bring them to justice."

"How we achieve that aim -- by encircling them, attacking them, squeezing them out -- that is all for the military leadership to decide on the spot," he added.

Russia says it launched its offensive against Chechnya to wipe out Islamic rebels who twice invaded the Russian Dagestan this summer and who Moscow blames for bombings that killed 300 people in Russia in September. Chechnya denies responsibility for those bombings.

More than 460 Russian soldiers have been killed and almost 1,500 wounded in Chechnya and neighboring regions since early August, according to government figures.

The Chechens claim to have exacted even more casualties among the Russian forces. None of the casualty figures could be independently confirmed.

Refugees continued to leave Chechnya. On Tuesday, 1,674 Chechens crossed into the bordering Russian region of Ingushetia, Ingush officials said. Three were detained on suspicion of links with criminals or Chechen militants.

Putin has praised the Emergency Situations Ministry for its work in bringing relief to nearly 200,000 refugees who have fled Chechnya.

Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, visited Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia. She praised the Russian government's relief efforts but said more needed to be done as winter set in and pledged more U.N. aid.

After being briefed by Ogata on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan launched an appeal for $16 million for the North Caucasus to provide food, clothing and shelter.

But Annan ruled out restoring a permanent U.N. presence in the region, which has become a no-go area for outsiders in the past few years due to rampant crime including kidnappings for ransom by Chechen gangs. Russia says its military campaign, now into its eighth week, is designed to stamp out such lawlessness and to restore normal life.

But the Human Rights Watch advocacy group said Chechen villagers have accused Russian soldiers of stealing livestock, appliances, winter stores of food and even floorboards and electric fixtures.

Ingush President Ruslan Aushev also said that several buses filled with Chechen refugees would be taken Wednesday to Gudermes, Chechnya's second-largest city, which is now controlled by Russian troops.

He said the refugees seemed to be in no rush to go back. "Who can guarantee that airstrikes will not be repeated?" Interfax quoted Aushev.

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

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