Russia said yesterday its troops had taken control of their first zone south of Chechnya's key Terek river as a feared warlord threatened to unleash a terrorist campaign in reprisal.
Moments after Russia brushed off peace overtures from President Aslan Maskhadov of Chechnya, a Moscow spokesman for federal security in the North Caucasus announced Russian forces had control of the Nadterechny district just west of the capital, Grozny.
Moscow had previously said its forces controlled the Naurskaya and Shelkovskaya districts north of the strategic waterway, in northern Chechnya.
If confirmed, the Russian claim would mark a strategic victory for Moscow. The Terek river had turned into a natural divide between Chechen forces concentrated in the republic's south and federal troops who had invaded from the north.
Thousands of government soldiers, armour and artillery poured into the breakaway Chechen republic on October 1st to crush Islamic guerrillas.
Earlier yesterday the Chechen guerrilla chief, Mr Shamil Basayev, threatened to launch a terrorist campaign against Russia as a reprisal for Russia's campaign.
Mr Maskhadov promised on Sunday to root out armed groups based in the republic in exchange for peace, but the offer cut little ice with a Moscow angered by Mr Basayev's appointment last month as commander of Chechnya's eastern front.
Moscow accuses Mr Basayev and his lieutenant, known as "Khattab", of masterminding last month's apartment-bombing campaign, but they have denied involvement. The two were the prime movers behind incursions into Dagestan in August and September by guerrillas whose avowed aim was to re-create a 19th-century Islamic state in Chechnya and Dagestan.
Mr Basayev, a former Chechen prime minister, shot to international prominence during the 1994-1996 war in Chechnya which left 80,000 people dead.