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Russia Pulling Out Of Chechnya
MOSCOW (News Agencies) - Russia talked up its game in Chechnya, announcing that troop withdrawals had begun and pledging a return to civilian rule, but a leading general warned of further fighting if Moscow slackened its grip.
Stanislav Ilyasov, Chechnya's new prime minister appointed only a day earlier, said he was ready to normalize the situation in the breakaway Caucasus republic with a view to "changing from a military to a civilian regime."
Ilyasov, a former top official in the neighboring Stavropol region, was named Thursday by Chechnya's chief administrator Akhmad Kadyrov after talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin's top spokesman on the conflict Sergei Yastrzhembsky said.
Ilyasov's appointment came as Russia's military command said it had begun to withdraw troops from Chechnya following an order by Putin Thursday to make limited troop reductions.
The move was part of "a plan presented to Putin by Kadyrov, the first political plan for Chechnya since the start of the anti-terrorist operation," Yatrzhembsky said.
It marked "the start of the reintegration of Chechnya" into the Russian Federation and was a key element in reaching a political settlement, as was a new constitution for the republic soon to be drafted, he added.
In the political plan, Kadyrov suggested setting up a new "consultative" government in Chechnya composed of respected local figures and religious leaders.
But Russia's top military commander in the North Caucasus hit out at the plan, signaling a possible rift among Russian strategists when he told AVN that a withdrawal from the republic was premature.
General Valery Baranov said that "if we break the present balance of forces, fighting will soon flare up again and there will be new civilian and military losses."
His whereabouts during the announcement of the withdrawal plan was unknown but he was reported to have flown back to Chechnya.
Putin ordered the pullout following talks with Kadyrov who told him that there was "no war in Chechnya, only cases of sabotage," army general staff officers said, as quoted by Interfax.
Few details of the withdrawal were provided, but the military command said army troops would pull out first, with the number interior ministry troops being cut back later.
The new urgency in the Kremlin's approach to Chechnya comes amid mounting evidence that public support for the military campaign, initially massive, has dwindled to indifference bordering on exhaustion.
The unbridled patriotism that greeted the entry of Russian troops into Chechnya on October 1, 1999, has faded with the realization that the campaign is costing a steady toll of around 20 troops killed each week.
And last week, the fragility of Russian control in the area was exposed when masked gunmen seized U.S. aid worker Kenny Gluck while he was traveling in a four-car convoy near Stariye Atagi, 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Grozny.
"A significant number of heavy armaments have either been pulled out or have been prepared for withdrawal to areas of permanent deployment," the general staff said in a statement.
"Army formations have completed the destruction of major, medium and small rebel formations, and the neutralization of individual rebel groups and their leaders will be carried out by specialized units," it said.
The police force would also be reduced to a lesser extent "as it is responsible for law and order and the protection of civilians" against Chechen fighters, they said.
Units staffed by local residents would gradually replace police teams.
A detailed plan of withdrawals by army, security and police forces is to be presented to Putin shortly.
The general staff warned however that Russia's 42nd infantry division would be permanently stationed in Chechnya.
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