Chechen protesters stand in front of a poster of Russian President Vladimir Putin to demonstrate against Putin's policy in Chechnya in Berlin February 9, 2003

MOSCOW, March 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Russia is to withdraw more than 1,000 defense ministry troops from its war-torn southern republic of Chechnya this month, defense ministry spokesman Nikolai Deryabin said Monday, March 3.

"Given the growing normalization on most of the republic's territory and the transfer of powers to the interior ministry, the plan provides for the withdrawal of troops and units which had been providing security and support for regular troops against terrorist groups," the spokesman said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

The ministry will also remove around 200 items of military hardware, Deryabin said.

The 42nd motor-rifle division and other units will remain "to hunt down and eliminate the remnants" of the Chechen forces, he said.

The withdrawal will begin in the next few days, Interfax said, quoting Yury Kostrovets, the deputy commander of Russian forces at the military headquarters at Khankala, just east of the Chechen capital Grozny.

Russia, which has around 80,000 troops in Chechnya, has been seeking to convey an atmosphere of normality in the republic ahead of a March 23 referendum on a new constitution.

The poll aims to fix Chechnya's place in the Russian Federation and provide the basis for what the Kremlin is presenting as a political settlement to the long-running conflict.

Despite their massive military presence, Russian forces have failed to quell Chechen activity and they sustain regular losses. On December 27 a spectacular suicide bomb attack on Chechen government headquarters in Grozny left 82 people dead.

Separately, Kostrovets noted that the Chechen fighters have stepped up propaganda to discourage the Chechen population from accepting the new constitution.

He cited "several attempts" last weekend at the village of Chiri-Yurt, 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Grozny, to broadcast a recording of speeches by Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov and the field commander Shamil Basayev, Interfax said.

"In a televised interview broadcast with a small transmitter over a range of about five kilometers, the “terrorist” leaders threatened people who vote on the day of the referendum," he said, claiming that there had been cases of intimidation against local residents.

Chechen fighters "also tried to recruit young people to train them for acts of sabotage and terrorism," he said.

Security has been stepped up around schools, essential public facilities and in crowded areas, Kostrovets added.

7 die As Chechnya's Pro-Moscow Chief Escapes Murder Bid

Kadyrov, denounced as a traitor by pro-independence Chechen forces, has survived several assassination attempts in the past

Meanwhile, seven policemen died in a Chechen fighters attack on the motorcade of Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration chief Akhmad Kadyrov at the weekend, Russian law enforcement sources told Interfax on Monday.

Four of Kadyrov's security men and three Chechen elite interior ministry policemen died during a gun battle Saturday, March 1, evening in the town of Argun, 15 kilometers (10 miles) east of the regional capital Grozny, the sources said.

The elite policemen came to the assistance of Kadyrov after chehcens attacked his motorcade at an intersection in Argun, the news agency reported.

One of the assailants also died in the fighting, it added.

However, Kadyrov denied that he had been targeted in the attack.

He told Interfax that while his motorcade was driving through Argun, he noticed some "intensive shooting in the street." His bodyguards went to investigate and ended up helping police units who were battling with what he called rebels.

Chechnya's pro-Moscow prosecutor-general Vladimir Kravchenko offered yet another explanation.

The official told Interfax that the administration chief's bodyguards had been ambushed as they accompanied a police team that had gone to hunt for a “rebel group” suspected to be hiding in a village outside Argun.

He confirmed losses among the security guards and policemen but did not specify how many people had died. The prosecutor reported that several Chechen fighters had been killed but said that the guerrillas had removed the bodies.

Kadyrov, denounced as a traitor by pro-independence Chechen forces, has survived several assassination attempts in the past.

In January he escaped with his life when police defused a radio-controlled explosive device on his vehicle's path in Grozny.

Kadyrov, who fought against the Russians in the first 1994-96 Chechen war, rallied to Moscow in the current conflict and is a contender in the Chechen presidential elections due to be held in late 2003 or early 2004.