``There will be tough measures in the North Caucasus and we will restore order in Dagestan and other regions,'' Russian news agencies quoted Yeltsin as saying. ``But once again, I state it firmly as President, there will be no state of emergency,'' he said.

Yeltsin was speaking after ten days of fighting between federal forces and Islamic rebels in the southern region of Dagestan, and ahead of a vote in the lower house of parliament, to confirm Russia's fifth Prime Minister in 17 months.

Chechnya on Sunday declared a state of emergency and imposed a night-time curfew as Russian forces claimed to have killed some 80 Islamic rebels in just one night of fighting. Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov said the emergency regime would run till September 16.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered in acentral square of the Chechen capital Grozny on Monday to hear an address by Maskhadov who had on Sunday said that the ``party of war'' in Russia wanted revenge for defeat in the 1994-96 war in Chechnya.