November 29, 1999
Web posted at: 4:09 p.m. EST (2109 GMT)

In this story: Russians object to linking war with IMF loan Fighting produces fresh waves of refugees Pledge repeated: No direct assault on Grozny French leaders urge negotiations RELATED STORIES, SITES

GROZNY, Russia (CNN) -- Russia pressed its military offensive in rebel Chechnya on Monday despite renewed Western objections and a warning that the two-month campaign might put sorely needed international credits in jeopardy.

Leaders of Western nations say Russia's campaign is causing too much death and suffering among innocent Chechen civilians. Russian officials counter that they have a right to defend their territory against what they call terrorists operating out of the mainly Muslim region.

Within the past two days, Russian tanks and infantry backed by warplanes have been fighting to cut off the last major supply route between Grozny, the Chechen capital, and the remainder of the breakaway Russian republic.

Russian Mi-24 helicopters and fighter jets fired at rebel positions while tanks rolled across the surrounding plain. The federal troops clashed for hours with about 500 militants.

Zelimkhan Shimayev, a Chechen fighter who took part in the fighting, said the rebels suffered serious hits.

But he said the Russians were badly organized and were having trouble seizing the section of road closest to Urus-Martan, a rebel stronghold a few miles southwest of Grozny.

In Moscow, the subject of Chechnya was set to dominate talks beginning Monday between Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Knut Vollebaek, chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Russian Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov reacted angrily to recent remarks by Michel Camdessus, head of the International Monetary Fund, that negative world reaction to the Chechen campaign could affect the release of the IMF's next loan installment to Moscow.

"We see no basis whatsoever for concerns of a political nature influencing the fund's decision," Interfax news agency quoted Kasyanov as saying.

"We do not quite understand Saturday's statement by Michel Camdessus linking the IMF's financial support and the anti- terrorist operation which is being carried out," he said.

Russian forces are gathering on frozen hills around Grozny

Russia hopes to receive the $640 million installment of a $4.5 billion loan package in December.

Monday's bombing raid hit Grozny's Avtarkhanov Avenue, one of the city's main thoroughfares, as well as residential neighborhoods and a car market.

Witnesses said there were casualties, but no figures were immediately available.

The attacks have produced fresh waves of refugees fleeing the capital, but the border post with neighboring Ingushetia was closed Monday.

The line of civilians trying to get out of Chechnya was more than a half-mile long at the crossing point, the Interfax news agency reported.

Almost 2,000 people left Chechnya on Sunday, but authorities shut the border post Monday because of computer problems that prevented them from properly registering the refugees, the report said.

The commander of Russian troops in Chechnya on Sunday repeated Moscow's pledge to avoid a direct assault on Grozny.

"Without question, there will be no storming of Grozny," Gen. Vladimir Shamanov said. "That's why this conflict is so difficult for Russia, because it is happening inside our country. So we cannot permit ourselves to use the methods America used in Iraq and Yugoslavia."

The Russian military command has pulled troops back when they encountered heavy resistance. Moscow hopes to avoid the kind of heavy losses suffered in ground battles during the 1994-96 Chechen war.

Russian commanders say Grozny will be fully surrounded by mid-December, but they are evidently counting on crushing rebel defenses from afar before risking hand-to-hand fighting.

In a political development, Chechnya's parliament approved a resolution calling for urgent talks with Russian lawmakers to halt the conflict.

"The problem of relations between Russia and Chechnya can never be resolved without negotiations, using only the language of warplanes and artillery," Interfax quoted Ruslan Alikhadjiev, speaker of the Chechen parliament, as saying.

Russia's campaign has forced approximately 200,000 people to seek shelter in neighboring republics, where they face winter shortages of food, fuel and other basic items.

The plight of the refugees has stirred Western criticism of Russia's tactics. Itar-Tass news agency said a human-rights commissioner for the Council of Europe, Alvaro Gil-Robles, was heading to the North Caucasus on Monday to assess the refugee crisis.

Over the weekend, French President Jacques Chirac and Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine repeated calls for talks between Moscow and the separatist Chechen leadership.

"This massive, indiscriminate, purely military escalation, with bombings, the consequences for the population, the 200,000 people forced to become refugees -- we cannot believe that this will lead to a stable and durable situation," said Vedrine.

He said the OSCE would strive to hold Russia to commitments it made at a summit of the 54-nation body in Istanbul earlier this month to seek a political solution. The OSCE's chairman Vollebaek, who is also Norway's foreign minister, was expected to remind Ivanov of these commitments in Monday's talks.

"We will discuss questions connected with future regulation in Chechnya," Vollebaek said.

Russian officials say they want a political solution in Chechnya but insist they must first crush the Islamic rebels, blamed for stoking instability in the North Caucasus region and for a series of devastating bomb blasts in Russian cities. Rebel leaders have denied responsibility for the explosions.

Correspondent Steve Harrigan, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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