THE Russian President told a local television station yesterday he planned to visit Chechnya in mid May and was prepared to meet rebel separatists, Interfax news agency said.
"Russian President Boris Yeltsin confirmed his intention to go to the Chechen republic in mid May," the news agency said.
The report confirmed earlier suggestions that the President could make his first trip to the battle weary southern region before the presidential elections on June 16th.
Mr Yeltsin, speaking on the eve of a pre election visit to Yaroslavl, north of Moscow, also said he was open to talks and "ready to meet the opposition".
The Chechen rebel leader, Mr Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, said on Wednesday he was ready for talks with Moscow to end 17 months of bloodshed in the region - if Russian troops were withdrawn.
But he said the meeting would have to take place on the basis of a real wish to create peace in Chechnya and not to make propagandist acts in the pre election period".
Mr Yeltsin's press secretary, Mr Sergei Medvedev, said a meeting with Mr Yandarbiyev and with the widow of his slain predecessor, Gen Dzhokhar Dudayev, could not be excluded.
Ms Alla Dudayev, whose husband was killed in a rocket attack on April 21st, has offered to come to Moscow to meet Russian leaders.
A successful trip to Chechnya could be a vote catcher for Mr Yeltsin, who has been criticised for his Chechen campaign and is trailing his communist rival Mr Gennady Zyuganov in opinion polls.
In the south, "special operations" to rid the region of fighters continued yesterday.
Tass earlier quoted the mayor of Shali, which is about 60 km from Grozny, as saying about 15,000 people were left in the town.
The Chechen chief of staff, Mr Aslan Maskhadov, denied fighters were holed up in Shali and compared the situation to an attack on the Chechen village of Shalazhi early last month.