Russian soldiers moved freely through the Chechen capital, Grozny, yesterday, drinking vodka and proclaiming victory over separatist rebels after weeks of fierce combat.
The Russian Defence Minister, Mr Igor Sergeyev, old ORT television late last night that Russian troops this week killed more than 1,500 Chechen fighters as they tried to flee Grozny. "Today, we won. Today is a celebration," said one officer in the city.
Many were singing to small radio sets as Russian military helicopters patrolled overhead.
For the first time in four months, they were finding no Chechen targets to shoot at.
"There are separate pockets of resistance, but not many," said a colonel in federal military quarters in Khankala, on the eastern edge of the city.
"The soldiers have reached every part of the city and there is
almost no resistance. This is a victory," he said.
On the Chechen side, the main rebel spokesman, Mr Movladi Udugov, said by telephone that 2,970 rebels had pulled out of Grozny by Tuesday. He said 43 of them were shot dead by the Russians or were killed when crossing a minefield in the southwest of the city. Another 37 people were injured, he said.
"It was an organised exit. There are no fighters left in Grozny," he added. He scoffed at Russian reports that the rebels were slaughtered as they tried to break the circle of federal forces surrounding Grozny.
The Chechen fighters were trying to reach the southern mountains to join a larger rebel force and regroup.
Chechen rebels broke out of Grozny at the start of the 199496 war and then fought a brutal guerrilla campaign against the Russians, eventually recapturing the capital and putting Moscow to shame.
The Kremlin sued for peace only days after the Chechens took back Grozny in that war, which killed an estimated 80,000 people and left the republic with de facto independence.
A similar escape from Grozny would suggest that the second Chechen war could drag on for months, if not years.
Mr Sergeyev said the Chechen losses were inflicted in a "brilliant" operation by trapping the enemy in a corridor left for them to make them believe they could get out of Grozny.
"The losses of the (Chechen) fighters in the operation come to more than 1,500 men," said the Minister. Earlier he had put the figure at 586. The fighters were confronted by minefields, machine gun and artillery fire, he said.
Meanwhile, support for Russia's acting President Vladimir Putin in the run-up to next month's election has dropped by 4 per cent over the past two weeks, Interfax news agency said. Of the 1,600 respondents, 58 per cent of those questioned in 90 cities and towns said they would vote for Mr Putin on March 26th, Interfax said, quoting an independent Regional Political Research Agency poll taken from January 28th to 30th.
Two weeks ago, 62 per cent of those polled were ready to vote for the acting President. The drop in support follows mounting public concern over the Russian death toll in Chechnya.
The Communist Party leader, Mr Gennady Zyuganov, a distant second to Mr Putin, saw his ratings increase slightly from 21 per cent two weeks ago to 23 per cent.