The plan appeared to give credence to Russian media reports that Moscow effectively aims to cut Chechnya in two.

Tens of thousands of refugees are currently sheltering in neighbouring Ingushetia after fleeing Russia's bombing campaign against Chechnya.

Putin told Russian reporters after meeting Yeltsin in the Kremlin that a state commission would be set up later on Monday to oversee the resettlement of the refugees and help restore a semblance of normality to their lives.

Russian troops have been moving into northern Chechnya, a low-lying region relatively sympathetic to Moscow, in a bid to consolidate a security zone round the rebel region. Russia accuses Chechnya of harbouring Islamic militants.

Meanwhile, Russia will follow its cutoff of gas to Chechnya soon withtermination of electricity supplies, Ekho Moskvy radio reported on Sunday, quoting Anatoly Chubais, director of Russian electric monopoly UES.

The Russian gas monopoly Gazprom had already stopped delivering gas to Chechnya because of possible destructions of its distribution network, the radio said.

Chubais, a former deputy prime minister, said that he had unsuccessfully proposed the electricity cutoff several times to successive Russian governments. "At the time, the justification for this measure was simple: they didn't pay us," he said.

But now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has "authorized" the cessation of electricity delivery, he said. The Chechen capital, Grozny, has been cut off from water, gas and electricity supplies for the past four days.