Russia said today it will withdraw 1,270 servicemen and some 200 items of military hardware from Chechnya within the next few days.
A withdrawal of more than 1,000 men from the breakway war-torn republic was announced by the defence ministry yesterday.
Between 30,000 and 35,000 interior troops will remain on a temporary basis, the foreign ministry said, adding that some military material would be transferred to civilian use.
Russia, which is estimated to have around 80,000 troops in Chechnya, has been seeking to convey a sense of an improved atmosphere in the republic ahead of a March 23rd referendum there on a new constitution.
The referendum later this month aims to fix Chechnya's place in the Russian Federation and provide the basis for what the Kremlin is presenting as a political settlement to a long-running conflict with separatist forces.
Russian and rebel Chechen forces fought between December 1994 and July 1996 and fighting has raged since Russia sent its troops back into the republic in October 1999.
Despite their massive military presence, Russian forces have failed to quell rebel activity and sustain regular losses. On December 27th, a spectacular suicide bomb attack on the pro-Russian Chechen government headquarters in Grozny left 82 people dead.
AFP