Chechen rebels begin surrendering

Two advance rebel detachments of about 80 fighters were liquidated in the Argun gorge. Over 30 terrorist bases were destroyed, the agency said.

Russian television ORT showed 54 rebels surrendering to Grozny prosecutors and to the pro-Moscow Chechen militiamen, commanded by Beslan Gantamirov.

Acting President Vladimir Putin’s special spokesman on the Chechen campaign, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, confirmed the reports of surrender by militants saying more rebelswere expected to lay down their arms in the immediate future.He added that 100 guerrillas had surrendered in the past 24 hours. Many of those surrendered were severely wounded and were given treatment on the spot, after which they were taken to Urus-Martan outside Grozny.

Chechens’ spokesman Movaldi Udugov, however, denied the surrender, saying no Chechen fighter had surrendered to the Russian forces in Grozny. He said that they are pulling back from some positions but preparing to counter-attack federal troops.

NTV, quoting Russia’s unified military headquarters in Mazdok, reported that heavy fighting continued in the centre of Grozny near Minutka square.For the last 11 days, federal forces have been trying to capture the city where up to 3,000 rebels led by field commander Aslan Ismailov have put up their toughest resistance to slow down the Russian advance to a crawl.

Fighting is particularly fierce in Grozny’s Lenisky district and Oktyabrsky district, respectively north and south to the Minutkasquare.

A Chechen commander said fighting was going on about 500 metres from the square, which controls access to the city’s centre. Deputy chief of Russia’s general staff, General Valery Maniov, told a press conference in Moscow that federal troops “have taken several tall buildings that dominate the area (Minutka square). There were snipers nests there from which practically everything could be hit.”

Russian Defence Minister Marshall Igor Sergeyev told Interfax that the operation to take Grozny “is approaching a breakthrough”. Sergeyev’s remark came as Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov was quoted by Russian media as telling his field commanders to hold their operations in Grozny till February 23, the anniversary of the deportation of Chechens to Siberia and Kazakhstan by Stalin in 1944. Meanwhile, acting President Vladimir Putin sent a federal prosecutor to Chechnya to look into the case of Andrei Babitsky, a war correspondent of Radio Liberty. Babitsky was arrested by Russian troops on Friday oncharges of fighting on the side of rebels.