Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said today that the military would not cut its presence in Chechnya until the rebel leaders were eliminated, and President Vladimir Putin, hoping for Chechens’ support, promised that the troops would not target civilians. ‘‘In the situation that has shaped up today in the Chechen republic, I believe it premature to withdraw even those considered surplus troops until the extremists’ leaders and their accomplices are either eliminated or brought to trial,’’ Ivanov said during a tour of military facilities in Russia’s far east. The top security official in the Moscow-backed Chechen government, Rudnik Dudayev, said that the elimination of the leaders would encourage vacillating rebels to lay down their weapons. ‘‘This would become an important step toward stabilizing the situation in Chechnya,’’ Dudayev was quoted as saying by the Interfax News Agency. As Russian forces pressed ahead with a security crackdown in Chechnya, searching for rebels and confiscating weapons and ammunition, Putin gave assurances to the head of the region’s civilian administration that the anti-terrorist operation would target the rebels — not the population at large. Mass operations are ‘‘harmful and unacceptable,’’ Interfax quoted Putin as saying during a meeting late yesterday with administration head Akhmad Kadyrov.
