ITAR-TASS quoted General Viktor Kazantsev, the commander of the federal forces in the region, as saying in the key North Caucasus military base of Mozdok that the new phase would aim to destroy Chechen forces everywhere in the region.

Russia has seized three northern Chechen districts in a drive to seal off the region, which Moscow says is harbouring Islamic rebels.

Viktor Kazantsev made his remarks as the Russian military took the village of Goragorsky in northwestern Chechnya. The village commands roads leading deep into Chechnya's mountainous south and to the regional capital Grozny.

It was not clear whether the new phase would include a concerted advance of ground troops into the rebel-controlled areas in central and southern Chechnya, where militaryexperts foresee huge casualties, or a string of limited operations and more of the bombing already carried out by Russian warplanes.