Russia Again Claims Control of Chechnya

A top Russian commander claimed Friday that federal forces have taken control of all of Chechnya. His remarks came shortly before the bodies of at least 27 troops ambushed Wednesday by rebels were reported found.

The commander’s claim--described as controversial even on the state-owned television network ORT, which has strongly backed the war--appeared to be belied by continued fierce fighting in the region near the ambush.

Col. Gen. Valery L. Manilov, first deputy chief of the general staff, also announced that the military death toll in the conflicts in Chechnya and the neighboring republic of Dagestan since August has surpassed 2,000, with more than 6,000 wounded.

“I will characterize the general situation. The entire territory of Chechnya is under the control of the Joint Group [of forces],” Manilov said. “The only exception is a few small areas.”

Russian military leaders repeatedly have come close to claiming victory in the war, but events in Chechnya just as often have proved them wrong.

In another admission that appeared to undermine his assertion that Chechnya is fully under Russian control, Manilov estimated Friday that 3,400 rebels are still operating in the republic--2,000 in the southern mountains, 1,000 on the Chechen plains and 400 in the capital, Grozny, moving in tunnels under the city.

He said 80,000 Russian troops are pitted against the rebels.

The ambush by rebels Wednesday in the mountainous southeastern region had officials in Moscow contradicting themselves as they grappled with yet another military setback.

A day earlier, the Russians claimed that 16 members of a 49-strong column escaped the rebel ambush, but on Friday the Kremlin spokesman on the war, Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky, backtracked with the admission that as few as six were rescued. Russian news agencies, quoting official sources, reported today that bodies of 27 to 32 elite troops were found in a village south of Grozny.

In addition to the Interior Ministry troops and eight other servicemen, the column included nine Chechen prisoners, according to some reports.

There was anger Friday that this latest military fiasco duplicated an attack last month in which 20 servicemen died in a rebel ambush on a Russian column.

Interior Minister Vladimir B. Rushailo said only one armored personnel carrier had been provided to cover the column Wednesday, and he called that clearly inadequate.

“There are also some questions to be asked about the command-and-control system and how decisions were made. It goes without saying that certain conclusions will be drawn as far as these issues are concerned,” said Rushailo, who flew to Vedeno, about 30 miles southeast of Grozny, to lead an investigation into what went wrong.

Manilov said the column traveled without air support, reconnaissance or defensive cover of the strategic heights on the route.

“Practically all the textbook requirements for this type of action were ignored,” he said. “This is yet another bitter and tragic lesson which demonstrates that war is a serious matter and should be treated accordingly.”

The latest military setback came with a new report from the New York-based group Human Rights Watch citing seven witnesses to the summary executions of eight Chechen men in the town of Gekhi-Chu, 18 miles southwest of Grozny, in early February.

The Soldiers’ Mothers Committee, the leading Russian human rights group on the war, contested the latest casualty figures of 2,036 dead and 6,076 wounded in Dagestan and Chechnya since August. The committee estimates the dead at 4,500 to 5,000 and the wounded at 8,000.

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Reuters contributed to this report.