RUSSIA: Russia has said its forces were launching new military operations in Chechnya to disrupt rebel plans to stage "new acts of terror" like the mass hostage seizure at a Moscow theatre that ended in huge loss of life.
"From today, the group of forces in Chechnya have launched broad-scale, tough and targeted special operations in all Chechnya's regions," Defence Minister Mr Sergei Ivanov said.
He said the move followed increasing information that separatists were recruiting "suicide-terrorists" and preparing "new acts of terror" there and elsewhere in Russia.
Shortly after Mr Ivanov spoke to reporters, further bad news from Chechnya hit the Kremlin with reports that rebels had shot down a Russian military helicopter in the province, killing nine servicemen.
Interfax news agency quoted Col Boris Podoprigora, deputy commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, as saying a Mi-8 helicopter had been brought down by a rocket fired from the edge of Chechnya's war-ravaged regional capital of Grozny.
He said Russian forces had launched a sweep operation in the area and two separatist fighters had been killed.
Mr Ivanov's remarks appeared to herald a fresh military crackdown in Chechnya and confirmed the Kremlin had closed the door shut on peace talks to end the decades-long conflict there following the Moscow theatre siege.
More than 118 hostages, including several children, and most of the 50 rebels who seized them were killed when Russian forces gassed and then stormed the theatre on October 26th to end a three-day face-off.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's tough stance in the hostage crisis won broad support from Russians.
But the rising death toll among hostages, virtually all of whom were killed by the gas used by special forces aimed at knocking out the guerrillas, has left many deeply uneasy. The affair has complicated the increasingly warm relations between Mr Putin and some western governments, many of whom have urged him to talk with the rebels while expressing support for his action in the hostage crisis.
In particular, Moscow is seeking the extradition from Denmark of Mr Akhmed Zakayev, an aide to fugitive Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, both of whom Moscow says were involved in the Moscow theatre hostage seizure. Denmark says it needs more evidence before it can consider handing Mr Zakayev over.
Mr Ivanov, an old KGB colleague of Mr Putin, told reporters in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk that guerrillas were conducting recruitment campaigns in Chechnya to drum up what he termed as "zombies" ready to fight for the independence cause.
The new operations, he said in televised remarks, were aimed at "nipping the threat in the bud".
He added that Russia was temporarily suspending plans to cut its military presence in the rebel province.
His remarks appeared to foreshadow a military clampdown in the territory, where Russian forces have battled separatist guerrillas for most of the past eight years.
But, with Mr Putin gearing up for key meetings with European Union and possibly NATO leaders on November 11th at which Chechnya is likely to be a controversial topic, Mr Ivanov was careful to say that the operations would be "targeted".
Western governments in the past have voiced concern at massive use of Russian force in Chechnya and alleged human rights abuses by the Russian army.
Russian authorities enforce tough restrictions on reporting from Chechnya and access there is under tight Kremlin control. - (Reuters)