Chechens leave, Russian forces push into Grozny

Chechens leave, Russian forces push into Grozny
Agence France Presse

MOSCOW, FEBRUARY 2: Russian forces pushed on Wednesday into most quarters of Grozny after Chechens announced a complete pullout, a claim brushed off by Moscow as a propaganda bid aimed at masking their true losses.

Military sources told Moscow news agencies that 50 per cent of Grozny was under federal control by Wednesday and that the Russian flag would be hoisted over the war-torn city within a matter of days. ``Assault units of the federal forces encountered hardly any organized resistance,'' in Grozny, one defense official told Interfax.

But other field reports disputed Chechen claims that they had all withdrawn from the city, breaking tight Russian defense lines while suffering heavy losses on Monday and Tuesday. The AVN military news agency said that a rebel force, whose size it failed to disclose, was retreating towards the center of the city while still trying to beat off the Russian advance. It said 60 rebels had been killed in the last day of battles.

Both sides have been waging atightly-choreographed information war while the Russians try to prevent Western or local media from having access to the conflict zones. Chechen claims that a nearly 2,000-strong force had broken through the Russian forces encircling Grozny would prove an embarrassment to Moscow and mar the political victory that the seizure of Grozny would bring.

Military, Chechen and eye-witness accounts say that the rebels pulled out of Grozny to the southwest, while the Russians advanced into the city freely from the opposite direction. The rebels then stumbled across a large minefield and also came under fire from the surrounding Russian defense ministry forces.

On Wednesday, top warlord Shamil Basayev in a statement published on a rebel Internet site denied that he had lost his legs when his car triggered a mine, but conceded getting hit by shrapnel. Basayev pronounced himself ready to fight on. The Chechens also lost two top rebel field commanders, including the Chief of Grozny defense forces, Aslambek Ismailov,during the pullout. The Chechens earlier said that the Grozny mayor, Lecha Dudayev, was killed in combat Monday.

It remains unclear how many rebels are still in the city. Chechen reports say that the rebels who did pull out temporarily established a base in the neighboring village of Alkhan-Kala, and were planning to advance deeper South into the mountains.